From the Flame to the Spark
by Ephemeral-Nightboy
Summary: Ginny Weasley pulls a PeggySue after Harry dies in the final battle. Featuring a determinator!Ginny who doesn't care how the previous timeline went, she's going to save Harry no matter what. Also, a minor not-really but sort-of crossover.
1. Hell of a First Day

(All your **Harry** are belong to **Rowling**.)

(**A/N**: This story is mostly canon-complient through Deathly Hallows but for two main points. One, Harry doesn't come back to life after the Kings-Cross-Ghost-Dumbledore scene. Two, Ginny suceeded in giving Harry his "birthday present" at the beginning of the year. Obviously the method of time-travel is not canon.)

* * *

**~Hell of a First Day~**

They'd won. That's what Ginny kept telling herself. Voldemort was dead, his Death Eater's were decimated, and the magical world was well on its way to healing. So why didn't it feel like winning?

_Talk about your rhetorical questions,_ Ginny thought bitterly.

Silent tears fell down her cheeks as she paced the empty halls of Hogwarts and remembered the warm green eyes that would never again look upon her with love and desire, the slender arms in which she fit so well that would never again hold her, and all the other wonderful things about the man called Harry Potter that were now gone from the world.

Ginny and all the others that Harry had in some way loved had found themselves invulnerable to harmful magic cast by Voldemort or anyone with a Dark Mark. It was a powerful protection that Harry had bought for them with his life, and it had given them their victory. Neville struck down the Dark Lord with the Sword of Gryffindor himself, and Ginny's wand now carried the deaths of over a dozen Death Eaters.

She should be celebrating. Harry would have wanted her to celebrate.

A new welling of tears filled Ginny's eyes as she stalked through the rubble, heading nowhere but just needing to move. After years of pining, all her childhood and adolescent fantasies had finally been vindicated. Harry had begun to truly love her. It _was_ more than a childish fancy. She'd been _right_ all along about her and Harry.

A familiar wall rose before Ginny's eyes and she stopped. Her feet had taken her to the Room of Requirement.

Staring at the wall, Ginny's shoulders shuddered and her fists clenched. It was too much. Harry was dead, and Ginny sank to her knees as she screamed her fury at the unfairness of the universe. She slumped down crying and _sobbing_ for the first time since she was a little girl. There was a sound of grinding stone that Ginny ignored. She didn't particularly care what the Room of Requirement was doing just then.

When Ginny finally looked up, she gasped and shot to her feet. Instead of a door, the enterance to the Room had transformed into a great iron archway that framed a rippling and shimmering celestial curtain. Somehow, the Room had responded to Ginny's wordless plea.

It was probably a very dumb thing to do, but Ginny had never seen the Room of Requirement produce anything dangerous, even if it never had produced a celestial portal before, so she didn't hesitate to reach forward and touch the star-filled magical membrane. An image flashed across the portal, showing a very young Harry Potter asleep in a worn old bed, and Ginny's fingers sank into the portal.

There was light and noise and screaming motion, and then there was darkness.

* * *

Ginny Weasley woke at five o'clock in the morning on september first and had far too large a headache to go back to sleep after such a weird dream. She stretched hard, head flopping sideways off her pillow. She didn't know where the bloody hell such a dream about the Room of Requirement being full of stars had come from.

As the headache faded, Ginny began to notice a few things. Her last memory was stalking the ruined halls of Hogwarts after Harry's funeral, but she was _most definately_ laying on her familiar bed at home in the Burrow. The same bed in which she and Harry had first -

New tears pooled behind her closed eyelids, and Ginny buried her face in the sheets. That had also been the last and only time they'd ever made love, before he'd gone on his horcrux mission. She rolled over and hugged herself, and that was when she noticed several other things. Her bed was too big, and feeling her own body, her chest was missing something _rather important_.

Ginny lurched up with a gasp, opening her eyes and staring down at herself. At the pink pajamas she had outgrown when she was twelve, and the tiny arms and legs of a child.

"What in the name of Merlin's saggy left testicle?" she gasped.

Flush with shock, Ginny leaped out of bed and skidded to a halt before her dressing mirror.

"Bloody fuck," Ginny whispered, staring at the ten-year-old girl in the mirror and trying very hard not to panic. "Okay, okay, calm down, either you're dreaming, or your _dreaming_ as in glibbering and drooling on yourself in a padded room in St. Mungo's, or..."

Or she really had gone to the Room of Requirment, and it had responded to her cry for Harry, and then it had de-aged her and created - _That doesn't make any sense either!_

Ginny pinched herself, hard. It felt real.

"Okay, so I don't think I'm dreaming," Ginny said to her reflection. "So either I've been de-aged somehow, or... Or I've gone back in time!"

She had caught sight of the charmed calendar stuck to the wall behind her. It was on the page for september, and the little animated unicorn was prancing around the square for the first. Ginny knew that calendar, and suddenly she knew what day this was. Today was the very first time she had ever seen Harry Potter.

* * *

Ginny was glad she had woken up so early, because it had taken her a while to work things out. She would go under the assumption that she really had gone back in time, in which case she needed to act like her ten-year-old self around her family for the time being. If she was going to reveal her future knowledge to anyone, she'd need to have proof planned out in advance, and lacking that it was better not to arouse suspicion.

And she _was_ going to use this opportunity. Once she'd decided that she really had returned to the past, her determination had hardened into diamond. She could and she _would_ change what happened to Harry. She would change _everything_! She would not hesitate and she would _not hold back_!

Ginny got dressed, sat on her bed, and thought.

Hermione had told her the whole horcrux story after the battle, so she knew exactly where each and every one of the foul things was hidden. First, before anything else, Ginny needed a wand to be able to accomplish anything. Borrowing her mother's wand while she slept was the obvious solution to that, thought it was risky if she woke up and found it missing. Anything she was going to do needed to be done at night and done quickly, then.

Ginny was also going to need help from someone she could trust, and considering where the locket horcrux was, she thought of Sirius. Once she did, a plan had crystalized almost instantly. It was absolutely ridiculously _nuts_ but if it _worked_ she could solve about six different problems _right now_.

_Anything for Harry._

Ginny stood, padded to her door, eased it open, and slipped silently into the stairwell. In her parent's room, Ginny ghosted along the wall towards the nightstand where her mum's wand lay. Mum and Dad were sleeping soundly, and based on what Ginny remembered of the scramble when she'd actually been ten, she probably had at least two hours to get the wand back where it belonged.

Wand in hand, Ginny crept out of the room and climbed the stairs to Ron's door and inched it open. _Merlin, he looks young._ And there was "Scabbers" curled up next to Ron's leg. Ginny wasn't quite as careful scooping up the rat as she could have been. Ron slept like a log at this age.

Rat in hand, Ginny hurried down the stairs and out into the yard. There was a hint of light on the horizon but she had time. She found some denim in her father's shed and charmed it to line one of her coat pockets with some minor transfiguration and a quiet, "_Adhaeresco!_"

"_Stupefy!_" Ginny hissed, pointing her mum's wand at the rat, just to be sure. Ginny slipped the unconsious animagus into the reinforced pocket and snapped it shut. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Ginny closed her eyes and disapparated.

Ginny apparated on wet stone, her feet hitting hard. She opened her eyes to see a vast triangular tower rising into the chill mist. Azkaban. Now for the hard part.

Raising her wand, Ginny focused on her happy memory.

_Harry followed Ginny out of the portrait hole. The noise of the party cut off behind them as Ginny took his hand and gave him a Happy Look._

_"Bloody hell," Harry said, sounding elated and worried at the same time. "I just kissed you in front of the whole common room."_

_"You sure did!" Ginny proclamed cheerfully, pulling him to a stop. "Do it again."_

_Harry laughed and pulled them together, but he stopped halfway to her lips. He looked into her eyes, and there was something breathtakingly warm in that emerald gaze. Then he kissed her, more slowly than before. Careful. Deliberate. Loving._

"_Expecto Patronum!_" she cried, and a great silver stag erupted from her wand. Harry's stag.

Ginny shook herself, refocused on her plan, and followed her patronus into Hell. The dementors didn't take notice of Ginny until she had passed through the archway in the outer wall, and once they did her stag forced them to keep their distance.

_Where are the aurors?_ Ginny wondered, climbing the first stone staircase. The dementors didn't matter. They sensed one human and one animal entering Azkaban, and they would sense one human and one animal leaving. Aurors, on the other hand, she couldn't let see her. Ginny held herself ready to cast the Imperius Curse if she happened upon anyone.

Fortunately, she didn't happen upon anyone, and it only took her an hour of wandering the putrid hallways to find Sirius' cell. Ginny swallowed, staring through the bars at that ragged form with only her patronus at her side.

"_Alohamora!_" she incanted, and the cell unlocked. She pulled it open and sliped inside, kneeling down beside the emaciated Sirius Black.

_This is too easy,_ Ginny thought. _Just how many prisoners besides Barty Croutch Jr. have been switched for someone else over the years?_

She couldn't worry about that now. Ginny reached down and shook the wretched man's shoulder, whispering, "Sirius, wake up."

He didn't respond, even when Ginny's patronus leaned down and nuzzled his cheek.

"_Ennervate!_" Ginny hissed, pointing her wand at Sirius' forehead.

With a heaving gasp, the man opened his eyes and jerked upwards. He struggled up to a sitting position, pushing himself away from the glowing stag. His back hit the wall of the cell and for several moments Sirius just stared at the patronus in shock.

"Prongs?" he croaked.

"Not exactly," Ginny said softly, pulling a bar of chocholate out of her pocket. "Here."

Ginny shoved the candy bar into Sirius' face, finally getting him to look away from the stag. He blinked, eyes focusing on her but not truly seeing. He took the chocholate, though.

"Lily?"

Ginny smiled sadly. "Closer, but no."

Standing next to her patronus, Ginny waited while Sirius chewed the chocholate. Slowly, life seemed to come back into his eyes, and though he'd been staring at Ginny for several minutes, he finally seemed to see her. His eyes went wide.

"Your just a child!" he gasped. "How - who - why would - how did - "

A coughing fit interupted his bafflement, and Ginny found a rough-hewn metal cup and silently cast an _Aguamenti_ into it. Sirius accepted it gratefully and drained it in one go. He wiped his mouth and set the cup down.

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"My name is Ginny Weasley and I'm from the future."

Sirius stared blankly for a few seconds, still slumped against the wall. "Okay, sure, why not."

"I'm here because I need your help, Sirius. Your best friend's son needs your help," Ginny said.

It was another several moments before Sirius seemed to register that. "Harry..."

"Yes," Ginny said. "I'm getting you out of Azkaban, because you never belonged here in the first place. You know that, and I know that, Sirius. Someone else belongs in this cell."

And he remembered. Ginny watched as life and rage seemed to flood through Sirius like a balm. His eyes focused fully and his hands stopped trembling. "Peter," he growled.

"I have a gift for you, Sirius, but you must _swear not to kill him_," Ginny said firmly. "He has to be alive when we leave or the dementors will chase us."

Sirius staggered to his feet, rubbing his face. He glared at Ginny. "Now wait one fucking second. Who the bloody hell are you really and how - _you have Peter!_"

Before the deranged man could lurch forward and seize Ginny, she cast a silent cushioning charm at the the wall and swept her wand across Sirius, banishing him into it. The impact still knocked the breath out of him in his dementor-weakened state.

"I really am from the future," Ginny said softly. "And I know you, Sirius. I know you won't ignore your responibilities for the sake of vengance a second time. You won't repeat that mistake. You're a better man than that. Harry needs you, Padfoot."

Sirus sucked in a breath and seemed to calm down. "Alr-alright. What's the plan?"

Ginny supressed a sigh of relief. "We rat-proof your cell, force Wormtail out of his animagus form, and leave him here to rot. Meanwhile, you go dog at the exact moment I detransform the rat, and walk out with me. The dementors won't notice the switch if we do it right."

"That's it?" Sirius asked.

Ginny nodded.

"Where's the rat?" he growled.

Ginny unsnapped her pocket and pulled the unconsious rat out by the tail. Sirius gaped at the traitor for several long seconds, and then he started laughing. It was a weak, wheezy laughter, but still.

"You've really got him," Sirius breathed. "I wonder how long he'll scream before he realizes no one can hear him."

"I'm tempted to Cruciate him a bit, but that's not part of the plan. _Stupefy!_" Ginny cast, hitting the already-unconsious rat with another blast of red oblivion before setting him down in the middle of the cell. "Are you strong enough to change?"

Sirius took a few deep breaths and nodded. Ginny pointed her wand and braced herself. The Permanent - as in, lasting a few weeks - Animagus Negation Spell would be a heavy strain on her immature magical core.

"_Formani Exeo Aevitas!_" Ginny bellowed.

With a rush of power, Scabbers the rat became Peter the traitor and there was a starved-looking black dog where Sirius had stood a moment before. Ginny swayed, but managed to keep the patronus from going out. She directed it through the door.

"Let's go."

"_Woof._"

Ginny shut the cell behind her and sealed it up with, "_Colloportus Aeternita!_"

A black dog, a glowing white stag, and a small girl with hair like fire walked out of Hell, and the dementors did not follow. Ginny let out a huge sigh of relief once they made it outside the wards, and let the patronus vanish.

"_Woof_," Padfoot said. His tail was wagging.

Grinning, Ginny ruffled his scruff, and said, "Hold on."

She took a moment to gather herself, and holding tight to Padfoot, disapparated.

Ginny and Padfoot apparated behind her father's shed. Patfoot barked in surprise at the sudden side-along transport. The sun was just beginning to peak over the eastern horizon and Ginny figured she had another hour to get her mum's wand back.

"Listen," Ginny said. "I need to go be ten for a while. Meet me here tonight and I'll explain what we need to do to help Harry and stop a lot of bad things from ever happening. Okay?"

"_Woof_!" Padfoot nodded.

Ginny paused to Summon a garden rat and transfigure it into a likeness of Scabbers, then hurried back into the Burrow. She snuck the replacement Scabbers into Ron's bed and headed back down to her parents' room. They hadn't stirred. Ginny put her mum's wand down exactly where she'd found it, waited several minutes for her heart to slow down, and then plastered a grin on her face.

"Mummy! Daddy! Get up! We're going to Hogwarts today!" Ginny exclamed, bouncing up onto the bed between her parents. Maybe if she got them up now, they'd get to the station early and she'd have more time to talk to Harry.

* * *

The familiar scramble was just as she remembered it. Ginny didn't need to fake happiness, though it did put a lump in her throat to watch her parents bustle about with such cheer and her much-younger brothers run around to get ready. She gave Fred a fierce hug when he stumbled sleepily from his room. Seeing him alive and seeing George with both ears intact was almost enough to break her composure.

They loaded up the Ford Anglia and made it to King's Cross with plenty of time to spare. Ginny dashed inside while her family was busy unloading the luggage. Her mum shouted after her with a bit of exasperation, but Ginny wasn't willing to wait a second more than necessary to see Harry.

And there he was, looking young and lost and so _unbearably_ cute and _alive_. Ginny's breath caught in her chest. Swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat, Ginny skipped towards him with a genuine grin on her face.


	2. Boy Meets Girl

**~Boy Meets Girl~**

Harry Potter woke at five o'clock the morning of september first and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes - he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.

"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

He was quite right of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.

"Have a good term," Uncle Vernon said with an even nastier smile.

He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone.

Before Harry could find a passing guard to stop, a small red-headed girl in a brown dress appeared in front of him rather abruptly. He was somewhat taken-aback by her sudden appearance and beaming smile.

"Hi!" she said brightly.

"Er, Hi," Harry replied, nonplussed.

"Looking for the Hogwarts Express?" the girl - who appeared to be roughly Harry's age - asked.

"Oh. Yes please. How did you know?"

Harry felt both relieved and confused by the strange girl, and then a bit excited, realizing she must be a witch, if she knew Hogwarts. The girl pointed at Harry's hand, which held his train ticket. For a crazy moment it seemed like she was going to grab it, but a second later her hands were clasped safely behind her back.

"You were holding a Hogwarts ticket and standing around with a trunk and owl looking quite lost. Those are usually pretty sure signs," she told him seriously. "Come on, I'll show you where the portal is. We can wait there for Mum and my brothers."

The girl skipped around Harry and grabbed the handle of his luggage cart. Her shoulder bumped against his as she started to push. Harry didn't know quite how to feel about this and was distracted enough that he didn't remember to start walking until the moving cart yanked him foward. The red-headed girl hadn't even told him her name, but no one had ever been so friendly to him before.

"Er, so are you going to Hogwarts too?" Harry asked awkwardly.

The girl smiled wistfully. "Not until next year. My brother Ron gets to start this year, though. I'm very jealous."

Harry's shoulder brushed against the girl's again. She seemed to be walking a bit closer to him than was made strictly necessary by the wide pushbar of the luggage cart, but Harry wasn't about to complain when she was being so helpful and nice. The girl pulled the cart to a stop in front of the barrier between the two platforms and turned to him, smiling in a soft way that made Harry feel somehow uncomfortable.

"By the way, I'm Ginny. Ginny Weasley."

"Er, Harry. Harry Potter," he replied, a split second before he remembered the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing and cringed, staring down at his trunk and waiting for the outburst that was sure to follow the revealing of his name. To Harry's surprise, it didn't come. Instead, a small, warm hand settled on his arm.

"You really aren't going to like being famous, are you," Ginny said gently.

Harry looked up, feeling suddenly warm inside. It _was_ unsettling and he was relieved to meet someone who understood that. He smiled ruefully at this girl called Ginny and shook his head. Harry thought - or perhaps hoped - that he'd made a friend.

"There you are, Ginny!" a woman's voice called. The girl winced and went to meet the owner of the voice - a harried-looking woman with the same firey red hair as Ginny. "What in Merlin's name did you think you were doing, running off like that?"

"But Mum!" Ginny protested. "This boy needed my help! He didn't know how to find the Platform!"

The woman who was apparently Ginny's mother ground to a halt halfway into her windup for a scolding. Behind her, four red-headed boys - two of whom were identical - pulled their carts to a stop. She blinked, seeming to spot Harry for the first time. The woman looked at him for a long moment, taking in his shabby appearance, and seemed to soften. Harry was glad Ginny hadn't called him by name.

"Oh, well hello dear," Ginny's mum said.

"Er, hello ma'am."

"They didn't tell you how to get onto the Platform?" she asked.

"No, ma'am."

"Oh, well it's quite easy, don't you worry," the woman assured him, turning to her sons. "Percy, you first. Fred, George, you next."

The oldest boy and the twins maneuvered around their mother and jogged straight at the barrier. One of the twins winked at Harry as they ran straight into the wall - and vanished through it. Harry blinked and looked at the wall in shock.

"Your turn Ron, hurry up now," the red-haired mother said, turning back to Harry. "It's Ron's first time, as well."

The youngest boy gave Harry a curious look and followed his brothers through the not-actually-that-solid brick. Harry copied them, aiming his cart for a run straight at the wall. He closed his eyes at the last second, sure he was going to crash anyway, but instead he felt the cool tingling magic of the barrier flash over him.

A magnificent red steam train stood before him when he opened his eyes and Harry stared in awe. Students and parents in robes hurried about and an engraved sign proclamed Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. He looked back at the girl and her mother as they followed him through the portal and grinned.

"Thanks, Ginny. Thanks, er, Mrs. Weasley," he said.

"You're quite welcome, dear."

Ginny opened her mouth to say something, paused, and then bounced forward and pulled Harry firmly into her arms. "Ginny!" her mother hissed.

Harry stiffened in surprise. It was probably the first time anyone had ever hugged him, but once he got over the shock he decided it was rather nice. He felt his face getting warm and patted Ginny's shoulders uncertainly.

"Good luck at school, Harry," Ginny said softly.

She released him and giggled lightly, running off to say goodbye to the twins, who were just returning from getting their luggage aboard. Somewhat flustered but feeling strangely happy, Harry climbed onto the train and set off to find an empty compartment while Ginny and her brothers laughed at something about a toilet seat.


	3. Ripple Effect

**~Ripple Effect~**

Riley Raye woke at five o'clock in the morning on september first and was in agony. He sat up sharply, his skull throbbing with a deep aching fire. Doing the only sensible thing he could in such a situation, Riley started screaming and clutching his head. His high, ten-year-old voice filled the room adorned with superhero posters and shelves of comic books, filtering through the walls and throughout the rest of the modest suburban home he shared with his parents.

The thumps and thuds of startled movement echoed down from the direction of the master bedroom and the hallway. Riley's door flew open and his parents rushed in.

"Oh my god! Greg! Call an ambulance!" his mother shrieked.

"What's wrong with him, Janet?" his father gasped.

"I don't know! Just call already!" she yelled, sounding on the edge of panic.

Riley was huddled up clutching his head with his eyes squeezed shut but he felt his matress move and his mother's hands flutter helplessly over his body. He could kind of see a glowing outline of his own body and a much fainter outline of his mum even with his eyes closed, but he was in too much pain to note how strange that was.

"Make it stop. Make it stop! Make it _stop_!" Riley cried between screams of pain.

Tendrils of light lashed out from the outline of his body, and with each one that did, the pain lessened slightly. Reacting purely on instinct, Riley fed those tendrils and as power flowed out of him the pain diminished even more. There was a loud snap like a firecracker from the direction of Riley's television, and a few seconds later the light pressing on his closed eyelids went out, leaving only his own glowing body in empty blackness.

The pain diminished enough that Riley got his screaming under control. He gasped through clenched teeth but he wasn't in blinding agony anymore.

"Janet!" his dad yelled from the other room. "The power's gone out and none of the phones are working either. What's wrong, why'd he stop screaming?"

Riley's matress shifted again as his dad sat down next to his mum, a second pale sillouette joining the first. He wondered why his own body was so bright and clearly defined compared to his parents. He puzzled on that for a moment.

"Riley?" his mother prodded, fear in her voice.

He could feel the tears streaming down his face and his breath was still coming in short gasps, but Riley managed to reply. "It's... get-getting bett..ergh."

His parents looked at each other for half a second before his dad scooped him up. Wait, why could he see with his _eyes closed_?

"Hang on, kid, we're going to the hospital," Dad murmured while Mum raced ahead to get the car keys.

Riley opened his eyes. His dad and his home's stairwell filled his vision but the glowing outlines remained. Riley rubbed the tears from his face and saw his hand come away red. Not tears, blood. No wonder his parents were panicking.

"I'm bleeding," Riley noted softly. After head-splitting ultrapain, a little blood didn't really concern him that much. "Bad brain pain and bleeding eyes... I wonder if I just developed psychic powers."

His dad let out a short fear-stained chuckle. "Now's not the time for fancy, Riley."

"But Dad, that's what happens all the time in the comics," Riley argued weakly as his mother joined them at the garage.

The pain was almost all gone at this point, but the glowing tendrils of power were still waving about. Riley was intensely curious about what they were, in case he actually had just come into his latent superpowers. His dad set Riley down in the passenger seat while his mum slid into the driver's side. With the power out, the garage had to be opened by hand. It creaked as it was lifted.

Dad climbed into the back seat, but when Mum turned the key nothing happened. "The car won't start, Greg!"

Riley saw his glowing tendrils wafting through the hood of the car and wondered if he were somehow causing the problem. He concentrated on pulling the tendrils of power back into himself, and to his glee they retracted. The pain in his head increased slightly, but it was managable.

"I'll check the-" his dad cut off as the engine suddenly roared to life.

"I think I'm okay, Mum," Riley said as they pulled out, grinning.

She only looked scared, but she ran a hand through his messy dirty-blonde hair and tried to smile.

* * *

Luna Lovegood woke five hours after the genesis of september and wondered why there were two of her. This wasn't as alarming as it might have been, since the both of her were doing much the same thing. How odd. Luna took a moment and decided that she was interested in this mystery.

Having determined that, Luna and Luna rolled over in opposite directions like mirror images and went back to sleep.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore woke abruptly at five o'clock on the morning of september first to the sound of a rather large explosion. He leaped into action as quickly as his aging body would allow, and once decent and armed, rushed down through his office and out into the castle.

_Expecto Patronum!_ Albus cast, raising the Elder Wand.

His bright silver pheonix erupted into existance and flew around his head. He pointed his wand and fixed an image of Minerva McGonagall in his mind. "Minerva, please lead the Heads to the third floor and check the protections. This may be a diversion."

The patronus winged away to deliver the message and Albus hurred along the seventh floor towards the source of the explosion. He found the site quickly. The corridor of Barnabas the Barmy had been completely destroyed. The wall opposite simply wasn't there any more and the rubble was open to the air. Albus moved carefully among the torn stones and began casting sensory charms.

"Wha-what happened here?" Quirinus Quirrell asked when he arrived minutes later, looking thoroughly terrified. Professors Sinistra, Kettleburn, and Hooch arrived then as well.

Albus concluded his spell and turned to the members of his staff. "I have several ideas, none of which are likely. Rolanda, Quirinus, if you would be so kind as to cordon off the area?"

The trembling wizard and spikey-haired witch drew their wands. Rolanda Hooch started work on a Wind Ward while Quirrell marked off the disaster area. Albus strode away, making for the stairwell and motioning for Aurora Sinistra and Silvanus Kettleburn to follow. Even with all his missing parts, Silvanus was remarkably fleet of foot.

"Was this an attack?" Aurora prompted as the sounds of wind and spellcasting faded behind them.

Thinking over the results of his sensory charms, Albus replied, "That is still unclear. I do know that the explosion did not originate outside the castle walls. Beyond that, it remains a mystery."

Taking a short-cut through one of his favorite concealed passages, Albus emerged with the two professors on the third floor and quickly made his way to Fluffy's chamber.

Within, he found Pamona and Hagrid scratching the cerberus' ears while it knawed on a deer carcass. Professors McGonagall and Flitwik had their wands out and Severus was climbing out of the trapdoor with a slight frown.

"The protections have not been disturbed," the potions professor said shortly.

Minerva and Filius nodded their agreement.

"Please gather the faculty, Minerva," Albus said after a moment. "I believe this occasion calls for a full emergency staff meeting."

There was investigating to be done. Albus worried that this unexpected disaster might set the tone for the whole of the coming school year. It was Harry Potter's first year, and what more appropriate time was there for things to get, as the Chinese would say, interesting?

* * *

When Sirius Black had woken at some unknown time on a morning he now knew to be september first, with a shining silver stag in his face, his first thought had been that he'd finally managed to die. But then things had gotten _ridiculous_ in the best way and now he was free and watching the sun rise for the first time ever. Felt like the first time ever, anyway.

A part of him was still waiting for the unbearably cruel punchline in what had to be someone's sick joke, but the rest of Sirius was fairly sure he wasn't dreaming. Dementors don't tease, after all. He hadn't smelled Polyjuice on the Weasley girl - and since when were there Weasley _girls_ anyway - and he really couldn't think of another explanation for a ten-year-old casting enough magic to get him out of that _place_, not to mention capturing Wormtail to begin with.

_Okay, so you were rescued by a time-traveler who learned of your fuck up with Peter at some unknown point in the future, and presumably knows Harry somehow,_ Sirius thought. _Now what, Padfoot?_

The girl apparently had a plan, and Sirius had to admit to being impressed by her sheer audacity in getting him out of that _place_. A gryffindor if there ever was one. Perhaps he _would_ follow her lead.

In the mean time, Sirius was hungry, and he could smell a town nearby. _Woo! Muggle fast-food!_ he barked, loping through the trees.


	4. Wands in the Darkness

**~Wands in the Darkness~**

Ginny dreamed about Harry. It was a silly sort of dream, where she and Harry were sitting side-by-side on his Firebolt and trying to snog despite the heavy and cumbersome layers of winterwear they were both clad in. Luna stood nearby on a floating book that was bleeding bright pink ink, wearing a muggle graduation cap and nothing else. The pale girl's fingernails and nipples were a bright chrome silver.

"You know, if you fly clockwise around a willow the nargles won't perv on you because they won't be able to see you," Luna said with a professorial air. "Ooh, ten points to gryffindor, Miss Weasley, for excellent use of tongue!"

"Ack!" Ginny exclaimed, waking up back in her ten-year-old body. She was silent for several moments, and then she started giggling helplessly.

After returning from the train station, Ginny had collapsed into sleep the moment they got home. Her mum may have tried to jostle her awake at some point, but she didn't remember for sure. It was early evening now, around the time her dad usually got home from work.

_I hope Sirius managed okay,_ Ginny thought. _I really should have gotten him some food or something._

She found her mum sitting in the den reading _Confectionary Cantrips Monthly_ and dropped in next to her. Mum looked over and smiled.

"Feeling better, darling?"

"Yeah, Mum," Ginny said. "I was only napping. I'm not so sad that I don't get to go to Hogwarts anymore, because I got to meet Harry Potter!"

Mum closed her magazine. "When was this, young lady?"

"We helped him get onto the platform," Ginny said innocently.

"_That_ was - oh no wonder he was all alone. He was ever so polite," Mum said. "Did he introduce himself to you?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, nodding and falling into the role of her ten-year-old self. "He was standing around looking lost so I went to help him and he was _Harry Potter_!"

"Why didn't you say anything when the boys and I caught up with you?" Mum asked.

"Well, I was having a hard enough time not fangirling that I didn't want to risk setting off any of the boys," Ginny lied. It was perfectly plausable and might have been true of her younger self, though.

Her mum gave her a knowing look. "Fangirling, huh? Is that why you hugged him?"

Ginny blushed. "No I only hugged him because it looked like he really needed a hug."

"Uh huh. I'm _sure_ that was the _only_ reason," Molly teased.

"Mum," Ginny groaned.

Ginny's mother gave her the smirk that the twins had inherited, but it softened after a few moments. "That was quite considerate of you, Ginny. Not shouting out his name for all to hear, I mean."

"He wasn't what I expected," Ginny said quietly. "The boy I met today was a real person, who just seemed happy to make a friend. He isn't a story."

Mum stroked Ginny's hair and squeezed her close. Ginny smiled. There was a faint apparition pop from out in the yard. Dad was home.

* * *

It turned out that Sirius had managed just fine on his own over the course of the day. Mostly. Once her mum and dad were asleep Ginny had taken the wand again and snuck out to meet Sirius. The shaggy black dog had come bounding out of the woods like - well, like Luna Lovegood was after him.

Ginny, going red in the face with effort to keep silent, led Padfoot to a nearby clearing. He returned to human form at once, and tore a frilly blue ribbon out of his hair.

"The horror! Oh the horror!" Sirius ranted, flopping back onto the soft grass of the moon-lit meadow. "A decade of prison wasn't enough? What did I do to the fates that I deserved _this_?"

Ginny broke her silence but found herself incapable of offering any guesses, what with her laughing so hard she could barely breathe. She fell back into the grass, giving up on staying upright.

"That lunatic girl _bathed_ me!" Sirius exclaimed. "I am fluffy and I smell like roses!"

"Don't... forget... the bow!" Ginny wheezed.

Sirius sat up and gave her a dirty look. "Excuse me, young lady, I'm traumatized here."

"Did - _Luna_, really?" Ginny gasped out.

"If you mean the insane waif who lives in the Lovegood Chess Rook, yes," Sirius groused.

"Merlin I love Luna," Ginny giggled. "I really need to be a better friend to her this time."

"I'm still trying to figure out how she got me into the bathtub," Sirius grumbled, though his own amusement in appriciation of a masterful prank was starting to show.

"Just be glad she didn't have a flea collar handy," Ginny snerked.

Sirius hung his head as he started to chuckle. "Merlin I swear that girl is like a drunken boxer. If I didn't know better I'd think she'd done it all _by accident_."

"She got weirder as she got older, the first time," Ginny said, sitting up. "And then after Harry taught her to fight, she got to be downright frightening."

"Harry taught her to fight? She was Harry's friend?" Sirius sobered when Ginny nodded, giving her a searching look. "You know, I've been thinking about it all day, and I can't come up with any other explanations for what you did and what you know. Unless I'm just hallucinating all this, in which case I might as well have fun with it."

"The first thing you need to know," Ginny said, "is that Voldemort is still alive. He doesn't have a body, but if we do nothing, he will rise again in less than five years. Last time, there was war."

Sirius stared and then shook himself. "How many years did you come back, anyway? How'd you get here in the first place?"

"I think it must've had something to do with an enchanted room at Hogwarts called the Room of Requirement, but I don't really know," Ginny explained. "It happened in the summer of 1998, the day of Harry's funeral."

"Harry's _funeral_?" Sirius gasped.

Ginny's voice trembled a little when she said, "Yeah, his funeral."

"How did he die?"

"Heroic sacrifice, of course," Ginny chuckled. "Noble prat."

Sirius smiled a little at that. "You were close to him, weren't you."

"I was his girlfriend," Ginny said, unable to surpress the note of pride in her voice. "I've loved him since - well, in retrospect, the first time I was ten I was only in love with the idea of him. It wasn't until after he slew a basilisk and saved me from a horcrux that I started seeing Harry instead of the Boy-Who-Lived, ironically enough."

"Boy-Who-Lived? Is that what they're calling him?" Sirius asked, chuckling. "Wait, he slew a basilisk?"

"With the Sword of Gryffindor," Ginny added. "When he was twelve."

Sirius looked dumbstruck. "James would be so proud. Insufferable, even. And that's when you stopped seeing the icon and started seeing the boy?"

"Like I said, ironic, I know. But when you live through the real thing, you realize how silly all the stories of heroes and damsels actually are."

Sirius was silent for while. "What's Harry like?"

"As I understand it," Ginny said, smiling a little, "he's Lily reincarnate, but he looks exactly like James, except for the eyes."

"That... actually gives me a pretty clear picture of him," Sirius said, smiling with a far-away look.

Ginny sighed. "I was inconsolable when he died. I'd finally gotten him to fall in love with me and not a year later he goes and walks into Voldemort's wand."

"He _what_?" Sirius shouted.

Ginny waved him down. "That's not important. What's important is doing our damned best to make sure none of it ever comes to pass. I've been going over everything that happened and think we can end it all before it starts. What do you know about horcruxes?"

"What's a horcrux?" Sirius asked.

Ginny grimaced. "A horcrux is an object in which a wizard has place a fragment of his soul, so that in the event of his body's distruction, he remains tethered to this world. It's how Voldemort became immortal. He made six of the forsaken things. While they're intact, nothing can destroy Voldemort's spirit, but destroy them, and Voldemort dies with them since he does not have a body yet."

"So, if we destroy these horcruxes, Voldemort winks out of existance and Harry grows up happy and healthy?" Sirius asked.

"More or less," Ginny said. "And the brilliant part is that I know exactly where they all are."

Sirius grinned. "Let's do it then. Where are they?"

Ginny grimaced. "That's the downside. All but two are going to be very difficult to get to, and there are other factors that led to Voldemort's ressurection last time that we'll need to deal with."

"But you have a plan?" Sirius asked.

Ginny nodded. "Yes. Firstly, we can't do anything that alerts the surviving Inner Circle that we know about the horcruxes until its too late for them to stop us. We go after the two easy horcruxes right away. Once we've got those, we'll figure out how to get at the three protected ones. There are also two people I think we'll have to kill."

"What about the sixth?" Sirius wondered. "If two are easy and three are protected, what does that make the last one?"

Ginny bowed her head. "The sixth horcrux is Harry's scar."

There was a sharp intake of breath. Sirius spoke slowly. "And how is a horcrux destroyed?"

"The only method we have access to is Fiendfyre," Ginny said quietly.

"Fiendfyre," Sirius repeated. "Harry. Bloody hell."

Ginny scooted over and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure that out once we've delt with the rest of it. I'm planning on bringing Dumbledore in on this after we've collected the first five horcruxes. If he can't figure out a way to get the soul fragment out of the scar without harming Harry, no one can."

"Why wouldn't he have already done that?" Sirius asked.

"Dumbledore doesn't know about the horcruxes yet, either," Ginny said. "Though I think he suspects."

"So, Harry's scar is one," Sirius said. "What are the others?"

Ginny stood up and started pacing. "The first is a diary; Lucius Malfoy has that one, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what it is. The second is Slytherin's locket, which is sitting in a display case in your old house."

"Figures."

Ginny grinned. "The third is a ring, buried under the house Voldemort's mother grew up in. Harry's and my best friend, Hermione Granger, told me that by the end Harry was convinced that the ring was also the second Deathly Hallow, by the way."

Sirius looked incredulous, and Ginny paused, but he simply shook his head and gestured for her to continue.

"The fourth is Hufflepuff's cup, which is locked up in the Lestrange's Gringotts vault," Ginny went on. "And the fifth is Ravenclaw's diadem, which is hidden in a version of the enchanted room in Hogwarts I mentioned."

"So I take it we're starting with the locket?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Ginny confirmed, offering him a hand up. "Feel up to apparating?"

Sirius nodded, getting to his feet. Ginny dropped his hand and disapparated.

With a sharp pop of displaced air, Ginny apparated on the edge of the dank park facing Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. A moment later there was another pop several yards to her left and Sirius emerged from the shadows. Ginny peered across the street and was relieved to see the magical townhouse unfold into view, not having yet been put under Fidelus by Dumbledore. The street was empty.

"Let's go," Ginny said, jogging from the cover of the park with Sirius close behind. "By the way, do you remember your house elf?"

"You mean Kreacher?" Sirius asked as they reached the heavy front door and put his hand on the handle.

"Yes," Ginny said as the handle glowed faintly under Sirius' hand. "A few years after you escaped last time, Kreacher helped lure Harry into a trap that nearly got him - and me - killed, and _did_ get you killed."

"The little shithead," Sirius growled as the house recognized its owner and unlocked the door. "I'll wring his vile little neck."

"My sentiments exactly," Ginny agreed. "I'm not gonna mess around when it's Harry's life at stake. I told you we were going to have to kill at least twice. Kreacher is the first." _Harry would understand, and Hermione doesn't need to know._

The door creaked open and the pair stepped smoothly over the threshold, Sirius closing the door behind them. The mahogany hallway was dark, smelling of dust and decay. Ginny lit her wand with a passing thought and aimed it into the corners to make sure nothing was going to crawl or slither out at them.

"Want me to do it?" Sirius whispered.

Ginny smirked bitterly, tossing the light from her wand up towards the celling. "No need. This won't be the first time I've killed."

"Alright," Sirius said. "KREACHER!"

The elf appeared with a prompt pop and a hateful sneer. He had about half a second to see the flame-haired girl pointing a wand at him before she cried, "_Sectumsempra!_" and his head went rolling down the hallway.

"FILTH! BLOOD-TRAITORS! SCOURGE OF MY LOINS!" At the end of the hall a pair of black curtains flew out from a screaming woman framed by tarnished gold.

"Bloody portrait!" Sirius snarled.

Ginny, already a bit wound up from carrying out an execution, whirled on the portrait and screamed, "_Confringo!_"

There was a blinding violet flash and a powerful concussion that knocked Ginny and Sirius to the floor as the portrait and the wall exploded. Ginny threw up her hands to shield her face as wood and plaster rained down on them. Sirius sat up and stared open-mouthed at the gaping hole where his mother's portrait once hung. After a few moments of silence while the dust settled, he started cackling with glee.

"Nice one," he laughed. "Remind me never to make you angry."

Ginny grinned weakly and took a bow before heading for the staircase. "Come on, let's get the locket and see if we can find a wand for you while we're here. Actually now that I think of it we should try to find one for me too, so I can stop borrowing my Mum's."

Sirius followed her up. "Want to tell me who the other person we need to kill is?"

"That's a bit of a story," Ginny said, looking around the landing and pointing her wand ahead of her as she edged towards the drawing room. "He's a Death Eater, and the son of a ministry Head named Bartimus Crouch. He was snuck out of Azkaban by his father - switched for his dieing mother at her request. He's being kept under Imperius but last time, in my third year, he broke free and impersonated our Defense professor in a long and convoluted plot to let Voldemort get his hands on Harry's blood. It worked. Harry was abducted, Voldemort was ressurected, and Harry barely escaped alive. And with no proof anything had happened except the dead body of Cedric Diggory. _Luminos Eperus!_"

With the celling aglow, Sirius was silent as he followed Ginny in. Something crunched wetly under the carpet as she stepped, pointing her wand at the tapestry she knew to be full of doxies. There were faint sounds of buzzing and skittering, but Ginny made it to the display case without anything leaping out at her.

"See it?" Sirius whispered.

"Yeah, it's here," Ginny breathed, pointing her wand. "_Venefidiae Revelio!_"

The cold tingle of dark magic washed up Ginny's arm, but she didn't get the hot-cold prickly feeling of a curse trigger on the case itself, so she opened it carefully and plucked the locket out. She slipped the cold, evil thing into her denim pocket and turned to go.

"You're too late, girl," Voldemort hissed from the doorway, red slitted eyes glowing as he held up Harry's severed head in one waxy white hand.

Sirius spun around in shock and Ginny gasped, her wand flashing up as she snapped off a reflexive, "_Reducto!_"

The blue bolt of force slammed into the Dark Lord's chest, bursting against him with a backwash of hot wind as he tumbled out into the hallway.

"Ginny! It's a boggart," Sirius said.

"I know," she replied, stepping forward and taking a few calming breaths as the creature stood up and waved Harry's head around. "It just startled me. _Riddikulus!_"

Harry's severed head came to life. It smiled at Ginny, winked at Sirius, and then started making faces at Voldemort. It took a few moments for the adrenaline to wear down, but Ginny and Sirius were soon cracking up at the display. The boggart writhed in pain and finally vanished in a puff of smoke.

"So," Sirius said after a moment, smirking slightly, "you throw Reductor Curses around when something surprises you?"

Ginny gave him a raised eyebrow as she shut the drawing room door. "When I'm creeping around a creature-infested old manor in the dark, damn straight I do. Now where do you think we might find a wand or two?"

Sirius chuckled. "Let's start with the study. I think that's where dear old Mum kept my father's wand."

They reached the study without any trouble, and Sirius went to the ancient oaken desk to look through the drawers. The walls were lined with old and rough-looking books and other things. Sirius rummaged for a short while and emerged victorious.

"Ahah," he exclaimed, holding up a gleaming off-white wand with a squarish handle and etchings up the sides. "White pine and dragon heartstring. My bloody mother did keep it. Let's see if there are any other wands in here. _Accio Wands!_"

Ginny looked around expectantly but no other wands appeared. She shrugged. "Most wands _are_ enchanted against the Summoning Charm. Where might another one be?"

Sirius thought for a few moments. "There's a chance Regulus' first wand might still be here."

"His room?" Ginny guessed.

"Yeah, let's take a look."

Several spooky hallways and another flight of stairs later, Sirius was pushing open a door marked _Do Not Enter without the express permission of Regulus Arcturus Black_. Ginny held her wand level into the gap as the door creaked open onto darkness.

"Careful," Ginny whispered. "I remember Mum saying something about this room giving them trouble last time. _Luminos!_"

The faint bolt of light - which was supposed to strike the opposite wall and make it glow - vanished into the darkness much closer to the doorway than it should have. After a silent heartbeat, the darkness answered. It _growled_.

"Oh bloody hell."

With a gut-wrenching eldritch roar, the darkness exploded outwards with fangs and claws and tentacles, knocking Sirius clear down the hall and snaring Ginny around the legs. Ginny's wand slashed and lashed in a furious flurry of silent cutters and flame spears, keeping her wand arm free as she was dragged into the darkness. Her raging snarl echoed down the hall as the inky blackness closed over her.

Ginny was in a whirlwind of biting pain and stinging impacts as the darkness mauled her flesh and tore at her clothes. "_Reducto!_ _Secoflamus!_ Stupid! _Asta Ignis!_ Fucking! _Lumos Solem!_ _Secoflamus!_ Pointless! _Asta Ignis!_ Bastard! _Insolomsecta!_ Get! _Secoflamus!_ Off!"

She thrashed and roared and kicked and cast, locked in battle with the darkness. Her fire cutters and flame spears and light spells burned away the claws and tentacles, but the darkness could make new ones as fast as she could destroy them. The locket horcrux went tumbling away, slipping from the shredded remains of her coat.

"Ginny!" Sirius' voice cried faintly from somewhere. "_Lumos Solem! Insolomsecta! Insolomsecta!_"

Sirius' voice seemed to be coming from everywhere but his light spells seared into the darkness and just enough light made it through to give Ginny some idea which direction the door was. Ginny had had enough.

"Aarg! _Solarus Novae!_" Ginny bellowed and threw both arms over her face.

Burning sunlight erupted in the center of the darkness, so bright Ginny could see her bones through her flesh even with her eyes closed. The darkness shrieked and recoiled as a much earthier yelp of pain sounded from wherever Sirius was. A shockwave swept through the room and the darkness _wilted_, evaporating like so much mist and dropping Ginny from its midst. She landed on her bare feet, shoes a tattered ruin.

A polished red wand hung in the air within a small remaining aura of shadow. Ginny's original glow charm lit the room now that the last of the tangible darkness was fading away. The red wand dropped and Ginny caught it, pivoting to face the door with a wand in each hand, shoulders heaving as she caught her breath.

Sirius pushed himself up from where he'd fallen to cover his eyes during the Sunburst Charm. "Bloody fuck. Are you alright?"

Ginny looked down at herself. A few tatters of cloth clung to her shoulders and hips, but otherwise she was bare. Hundreds of bright red scratches and scrapes crisscrossed her exposed skin and her whole body was patterened with the beginnings of bruises.

"You know," Ginny panted. "If I was still grown up, this would be a bloody brilliant sexy heroine moment. Life just isn't fair."

"I'll take that as a yes," Sirius wheezed. "Merlin's bogies, I'm half blind!"

Sweeping the red wand toward the green-draped four-poster bed, Ginny sent a Bannisher at it that slammed it against the wall, knocking dust loose from the frame. No creatures emerged in the wake of the disturbance, so Ginny went over and sat heavily on the edge of the matress.

She pointed both wands and incanted, "_Accio clothes!_"

Sirius blinked, focusing on Ginny as a pile of scrap cloth flew into her arms. "You're all cut up!"

"I hadn't noticed," Ginny groaned. "What the fuck was that thing? _Reparo!_"

"No idea," Sirius breathed, hurrying over to crouch down in front of Ginny. "I think I can do something for those cuts... _Exuviate!_"

The cuts and scratches in a small area around Sirius' wand tip sealed up. He repeated the spell several more times while Ginny finished repairing her clothing. She stood up to pull the repaired garments back on and looked around for the fallen horcrux.

"Where's the locket?" she asked.

Sirius pulled it out of his pocket. "I got it. Nearly tripped on it."

Taking a deep breath, Ginny let her head fall back as she sighed loudly. That had been unpleasant. She held up the red wand. It felt good in her hand. Much better than her mother's did.

"Was this your brother's wand?" Ginny asked.

"That it is," Sirius said. "Redwood and pheonix feather."

"It's a good fit and it feels agreeable," Ginny said. "Come on, let's get out of this cess pit."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Sirius agreed.

* * *

Ginny and Sirius apparated on a rocky ridge seventy miles from nowhere. It was cold and the wind was biting. Shivering under the moonlight, Ginny drew her new wand and aimed it at a likely-looking boulder.

"_Expulso!_"

A heavy chunk of stone shattered away from the boulder, leaving a nice big hole. Sirius padded forward and dropped the locket into the space. He returned at a jog, ushering Ginny further back.

"You got this?" Ginny shouted over the wind.

Sirius nodded and faced the horcrux. He held his white-pine wand with both hands as he raised it in front of him. Sirius opened his hands upward, resting the wand between his laced fingers and bringing it to his mouth. Leaning forward, he breathed out a single eldritch syllable over the wand, and Fiendfyre burst forth.

A great gout of intense flame rose up and flowed forward, taking the shape of a giant rabid wolf. The creature of dark fire sailed through the chill air leaving smoke and ash in its wake. With a roar of flames it crashed down on the locket horcrux, firey jaws snapping shut.

There was a flare of light from within Fiendfyre wolf's mouth, and a long piercing scream as the soul fragment died. The flaming beast moved _through_ the boulder, leaving the charred husk of the horcrux behind as it raged down the mountainside.

Ginny jogged up to the boulder and picked up the former horcrux, stuffing it in a pocket. She turned and nodded to Sirius. With a quick succession of pops, the pair disapparated, leaving the scorched mountain cold under the stars.

* * *

(**A/N:** I realize I'm probably being a little mean to Kreacher here. Ginny not knowing that he redeemed himself in the first timeline may just be her first big mistake, but then again, maybe not. In either case it just goes to show that Ginny's future knowledge isn't perfect.)


	5. Peace and Problems

**~Peace and Problems~**

Luna Current was having a good time. Last night she'd met a dirty black dog and given him a bath, and he'd been so happy to get cleaned up he'd leaped out the second-story window in joy. Luna Prime hadn't met a dog of any sort though, which led Luna to realize that there weren't just two of _her_ - there was two of everything!

And most curiously, one of her didn't seem to be aware of the other. Luna had then dubbed herselves Prime and Current. Luna was fairly sure that she was Luna Current, because if she was Luna Prime, then she wouldn't know about Luna Current.

Yes, that made sense. And she was having a good time today. Luna Prime had gone racing down the Lovegood's hill in pursuit of a hummingbird and Luna Current had decided to race herself. She giggled in stereo, chasing the little bird that only one of her could see.

* * *

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."

"Wearing the glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the first day of classes. People lining up outside classrooms stood on toptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. Harry wished they wouldn't, at the very least because it was making it hard to concentrate on finding his way to class.

Ron was no help, not for lack of trying. His sense of direction wasn't much better than his table manners and the stares and whispers distracted him too, but Ron seemed to think all the attention was simply cool. Unlike his sister that Harry had met back at the train station, Ron couldn't fathom why Harry might wish that they'd all stop giving him those awed _looks_.

And that was all before they took a wrong turn and met Peeves.

"GOT YOUR CONK! EHEHEHEHE!"

* * *

Ginny was very tired. After coming home from the scorched moutaintop and returning her mother's wand, she'd stashed the former horcrux and new wand in her room and then collapsed into bed. Unfortunately, she'd only managed about three hours of sleep before her mother roused her for breakfast and assigned a few chores.

She raised a token complaint as most ten-year-olds would, but made an effort to remain cheerful and conceal her exhaustion, lest Mum start wondering why Ginny wasn't getting a good night's sleep. While Ginny was sorting laundry, her mum attacked the boy's rooms with cleaning charms.

It was nice, actually, for the biggest worries of her mother's day to be nothing more than dust and mildew. Hopefully, this time Molly would never have to face things like avenging the murders of her children. Ginny's smile faded and she shivered.

No, Ginny definitely wasn't going to let that happen this time. Unfortuntately, two nights in a row of advanced magic and little sleep meant there was no way Ginny wasn't passing out long before her mother went to bed tonight. She'd have to spare the night for rest.

Now that they'd taken care of the locket and she'd found herself a wand, Ginny's actions weren't limited by when she could sneak her mum's wand away. They'd go after the ring tomorrow, but once they had it, the rest of the horcruxes were going to take a good deal of planning.

Ginny had ideas, but what she needed was information. She simply did not know enough about Malfoy Manor to plan a heist, or enough about Gringotts to contemplate a break-in.

_And using Harry's method would attract way to much attention._ Ginny giggled at how much of an understatement _that_ was.

Maybe her dad could help with the Manor. If she sent an anonymous tip about the hidden basement he'd missed last time, then when her dad raided the place he might find the diary. Ginny dismissed that idea. If the diary was taken by a ministry raid it would wind up in an evidence locker somewhere and Ginny wouldn't be able to get at it to destroy it.

Getting to the diadem, on the other hand, would be simple if not for the slim but real chance that Fred or George might see her on the Maurader's Map. If that happened her _only_ option would be letting them in on the secret, and Ginny wasn't ready to do that yet. Do it during a Hogsmeade weekend? No, there was still a chance the twins would have the Map with them.

And if they saw Sirius' name, that would be almost as bad.

Ginny sighed and rubbed her eyes. She was much too tired to scheme properly. It would have to wait until tomorrow when she was rested and could talk it over with Sirius.

* * *

"Hey, Riley! Hey!"

Riley looked around the schoolyard from where he was climbing out of his mum's car and spotted the girl calling him. Charlotte Webb, the only person he could honestly call a friend. Her name got her teased a lot. Back in the third grade some kids had started calling her Spider Girl. Riley hadn't really noticed what was going on, and having only heard the name, started talking about Sussa Paka from _DC's Adventure Comics_. This, of course, produced only blank stares, but Charlotte had thought it was funny and they'd been friends ever since.

Charlotte had a demure look with lank, light brown hair, hazel eyes, freckles, and a very warm smile.

"Hi, Charly," Riley said, waving as he adjusted his bookbag.

She skpped up to the curb. "Hi, Mrs. Raye. Riley! You weren't in school yesterday."

"Uh yeah," he said, grinning sheepishly. "I was in the hospital."

"What? How come?" Charlotte asked, peering at him as if expecting to ferret out some sign of injury or illness.

"It was just some weird kind of headache," Riley said. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "I'll tell you about it in a bit, where no one can see."

Charlotte's eyebrows shot up and her eyes sparkled with curiosity. She nodded.

"Have a good day, sweetheart," Riley's mother called.

"Yeah. Bye, Mum."

"Bye, Mrs. Raye."

As the car pulled out, Riley grabbed Charlotte's hand and led her across the yard. The other kids were gathered in clumps here and there, but nobody was standing over by the library building. Riley glanced around to make sure no adults were looking, and pulled Charlotte into the small dead-end alley between the library and the fence.

Riley let go of Charlotte's hand and grinned. "I think I'm a superhero!"

Charlotte blinked. "Um, what?"

"It's why I was in the hospital," Riley explained. "Something really strange happened, Charly. My eyes were bleeding and there were these weird glowy things, but by the time we got to the emergency room I felt perfectly okay and I could see things with my eyes closed and the doctors said I was in perfect health."

"Er, okay," Charlotte said slowly. "But how does that make you a superhero?"

Riley frowned. "Well I guess you have a point. I haven't even come up with a costume or a name for myself yet."

Charlotte giggled. "That's, um, not exactly what I meant."

"Oh," Riley said. "Right. All the hospital stuff isn't what I'm talking about. I wasn't sick. What happened was that I got superpowers!"

"Riley, that's silly," Charlotte said, frowning. "Why would a weird headache give you superpowers?"

"I don't know why," Riley replied, "but it did. For real!"

"Really?" Charlotte asked, looking eager. "Can you show me? What can you do?"

"You have to keep it a secret," Riley warned.

Charlotte giggled. "Well, obviously."

"I'm not sure exactly what my power is," Riley told her. "It makes electrical stuff stop working, though, and I've figured out how to do a few other things."

"Like what?"

Riley grinned hugely. "Like this, for one."

He concentrated on feeling light and untouched by the earth's gravity, extending the glowing tendrils of power and then wrapping them around his body. The tendrils wavered for a moment, doing a lot of nothing, before snapping into place. Riley fed his power into the configuration, feeling his weight decrease as he did so.

Still grinning at Charlotte, Riley crouched down and sprang into the air, shooting twenty feet straight up. Charlotte gasped, looking up from beneath him. Twisting sideways, Riley kicked off the side of the library and sailed in a smooth arc over the tall chain-link fence. He landed with a soft thump on the ground outside the school.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Does this mean you can _fly_?"

"If I can, I havn't figured it out yet," Riley said, leaping up and grabbing the top of the fence, perching there for a moment before dropping back down to Charlotte. "I can protect myself from gravity, but I can't change direction in the air or anything."

"That's still amazing!" Charlotte squeed. "You've really got superpowers!"

"Shhhh!"

"Oop! Sorry," Charlotte said much more quietly. "Can I help you make your costume?"

"Sure," Riley said with a smile, releasing the power and feeling his weight return to normal. "As long as you help me come up with a name, too."

Charlotte bounced in delight and jumped forward to give Riley a hug just as the bell rang, announcing that they were late for class.


	6. Innovation

**~Innovation~**

After a solid twelve hours of sleep and a good breakfast, Ginny headed out to meet Sirius under the pretense of playing in the nearby woods. She found the small, grassy clearing again and leaned up against a tree to wait.

Getting the ring horcrux would be simple, Ginny was confident. What she still didn't know, was how to reach the cup and the diary. Maybe she should simply wait until next year for Lucius to drop the diary in Ginny's cauldron like he had last time. Ginny ground her teeth. No, she couldn't do that. She was _not_ confident that she could get that day to happen exactly as it had last time, and she especially didn't want to risk some _other_ first year ending up with the diary instead.

Besides, she already had a few vague notions of doing something about The Dobby Incident, which pretty much guaranteed that month wouldn't happen the same way.

With a soft crack, Sirius apparated in the center of the clearing and looked around until he spotted Ginny. He joined her under her chosen tree, sitting on a protruding root. He was looking better. Clean shaven, with some color to his skin, and he'd found a black leather jacket somewhere.

"How're you managing?" Ginny asked.

"Well enough," Sirius said. "I found a muggle inn in town yesterday and put a Muggle-Repelling Charm on one of the rooms. So what's the plan?"

"We get the ring," Ginny said simply. "Ready to go?"

Sirius nodded, so Ginny grabbed his arm and disapparated, taking him with her into the pressing darkness. Her feet hit the ground with a squelch where she apparated among the tall grass of the marsh surrounding the Gaunt shack.

The shack itself stood before them on its shallow hill, festering with decay and looming ominously in the weak, hazy sunlight. Moss and creeping vines climbed the old greyed planks and cast deep shadows. Ginny shivered.

"Wow," Sirius commented flatly. "The word 'shack' doesn't really do this thing justice."

"It's more dangerous than it looks," Ginny said, moving forward cautiously.

Sirius drew his wand and followed. "It looks pretty dangerous."

"Let's see," Ginny said. "_Venefidiae Revelio!_"

Ginny gasped, recoiling and lurching to a halt as her arm _exploded_ with the prickly hot-cold warning feeling of curse triggers and the icy wash of concentrated dark magic. She reached out and quickly halted Sirius where he stood. They were only a few feet from the edge of the ward scheme. Ginny wasn't practiced enough with the Magical Detection Charm to read the more subtle clues, so she didn't know exactly what would happen if they got any closer to the shack. Without a doubt, it wouldn't be good.

"What?" Sirius asked, his voice low.

"Wards and curses," Ginny growled. "Really nasty ones."

Sirius stepped back and raised his wand silently. With a flick and jab, he presumably cast a silent detection spell of his own. He moved his wand around slowly, frowning. While he did that, Ginny aimed her wand at the center of the rotting structure and started taking deep breaths.

"Really nasty," Sirius agreed. "I don't know if we can get passed this. I thought you said this one was supposed to be ea-"

"_Singularis Nex!_" Ginny cried.

A burst of force erupted out of Ginny's wand, sending Sirius stumbling back several steps and flattening the reedy grass in a large circle around them. Arcs of deep violet energy filled the expanding sphere of force with a deep crackling hum. With a rushing roar of air, the spell stopped expanding and spiraled in on itself, collapsing down into a tiny lightless black dot that thrummed with power as it shot away from Ginny and into the heart of the Gaunt shack.

"Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed, bracing himself against the gale wind that rushed into Ginny's spell.

With clenched teeth, Ginny drove the dark ball of energy forward. Mud, rocks, and grass lurched up, tearing out of the ground as it traveled to its target, vanishing as they were pulled into the thrumming ball of crushing destructive force.

The spell breached the shack, piercing a wall. The wall tore from its foundations and collapsed into the black sphere with a shrieking creak of splintering wood. The rest of the decaying building followed shortly after, and as the physical matter to which the cursed wards were attached was destroyed, the wards fell with a series of concussive bursts and light flashes.

The last of the shack ripped apart and collapsed into the thrumming ball of darkness, and Ginny let the spell fade. The world seemed to spin a bit as the rushing suction faded to silence and Ginny staggered sideways. Sirius caught her, holding her up while she blinked the dizzyness away. Out in the center of where the Gaunt shack once stood, the small glimmer of the thing Ginny's spell couldn't destroy hung in the air for a moment before dropping softly to the scoured earth.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Sirius asked.

"Aetheric Void Curse," Ginny said weakly. "My brother Bill taught it to me during the war last time."

"That was damn impressive, Ginny," Sirius laughed, still holding her up. "But you look like you just rode a broom through a tornado. Can you stand?"

"I think so," Ginny breathed, letting go of Sirius. She swayed a bit but she didn't fall down. "Alright. Come on."

Ginny walked carefully into the blast zone, mindful of her unsteadiness. She found the ring sitting in the dirt and crouched down to pick it up. The moment her fingers touched it, Ginny felt a wave of peace wash over her, coupled with a burning _need_ to put the ring on. She froze, not trusting herself to move.

"Ginny?" Sirius asked, shaking her shoulder. "Ginny!"

Why was he yelling? It didn't matter. All that mattered was putting the ring on, even though doing that would kill her. Ginny started to move the ring towards her finger for a moment before she managed to lock herself down again, still as a statue. With an effort of will akin to thrusting her hand into a burning braizer, Ginny closed her fist around the ring and wrenched it away from her other hand. She fell back onto her butt as the world around her seemed to burst back into significance.

Sirius dropped to the ground next to her. "What happened?"

"Compusion," Ginny panted, slipping the horcrux into her denim-lined pocket. "I had to fight it off. The ring's cursed to kill anyone who puts it on. Merlin. I knew about the curse but, I just figured, I mean there's, I never, he never said, I didn't know about the Compulsion. Merlin, that was close."

Ginny was quite in danger of hyperventilating as Sirius helped her to her feet, but she managed to get herself under control after a few moments. That _had_ been too close, though. There were gaps. Things Ginny would never know because she hadn't been _there_ when things happened. Damn being a year younger than everybody else.

Sirius stared at her for a while, with a sort of helpless look. "Well, er, let's get on with - are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, nodding. "I can't expect to get through this without making a few mistakes along the way. I'm not dead, so we're good. Let's blow this bloody thing up."

Ginny steadied herself, prepairing to disapparate, but Sirius grabbed her shoulder and said, "Wait."

"What?"

"You just gave me an idea."

* * *

The sun was setting over London as its fading rays filtered in through Charlotte's bedroom window and gave her hair a vibrant orange halo. Riley leaned over her shoulder and watched intently as she finished the stitching on his costume.

Since Riley hadn't been able to figure out a theme to his powers, he'd decided to go with a different naming style and call himself The Guardian. A full costume had turned out to be a little too complicated, but Riley already had his favorite pair of black jeans and sneakers that happened to have a gold letter-G on them, so he and Charlotte had decided to build on that and just make a sturdy black shirt with with a big gold letter-G on the chest.

"And, done!" Charlotte announced, snipping off the extra thread. "Try it on!"

Grinning, Riley took the overshirt from Charlotte's worktable and pulled it on over his plain t-shirt. "It fits. Awesome, Charly. Thanks."

Charlotte hopped off her stool and her smile filled Riley's vision as she hugged him excitedly. She turned around and picked up the golden mask they'd finished earlier, pulling it gently into place on Riley's head. She stepped back to look him over, grinning broadly.

"You're a real superhero," Charlotte said. "This is so brilliant!"

"I'm a little nervous, actually," Riley admitted. "Will you help me practice my deflectoring?"

Giggling, Charlotte nodded. "Are you going out there tonight?"

"Yeah, I think I'm ready," Riley said, backing up and putting some space between him and Charlotte. "Most superheroes save their first people before they even get a costume. Probably because they never seem to have best friends like you to help with that when they first start out."

Charlotte blushed and smiled at him as she retrieved a jar of small coins and pulled out a handful. "Ready?"

"Go," Riley said, bending his tendrils of power around himself, trying to _feel_ impervious.

Charlotte started throwing coins. She hurled them with all her might, but the coins bounced off of empty air a few inches from hitting Riley and scattered about the room. Wanting to test his concentration, Riley diverted some of his tendrils and focused on them, trying to _feel_ light. Charlotte continued to giggle and pelt him with coins as he leaped up and spun, landing on the celling and kicking off again. No coins struck him, and the lack of gravity held steady.

Riley landed in a crouch behind Charlotte and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her down to the floor with him. "Got'cha!"

"That was great," Charlotte said, giggling as Riley released her.

Riley grinned, pushing himself up off the ground with one hand and flipping to his feet. "Thanks, Charly."

"Good luck out there, Riley."

* * *

"Nitroglycerin? What's nitroglycerin?" Ginny asked as Sirius pointed his wand at the electrified chain-link fence.

Sirius grinned evilly. "It's a liquid that explodes when you set fire to it. Explodes _big_."

"Big enough to destroy a horcrux?"

"If there's enough of it, I think so," Sirius said.

After the Gaunt shack, Ginny had gone home for a while to check in with her parents, and then met up with Sirius again once her mum had gone to bed. Sirius' idea was brilliant in its simplicity. If they couldn't get the horcrux out of its Gringotts vault, then they could simply destroy the vault with the horcrux in it. They'd apparated in a dark alley between industrial warehouses, and Sirius had led her to one in particular that had a company name and logo painted on it. _United Kingdom Urban Demolitions_.

"What are you doing with the fence?" Ginny asked, keeping a wary eye out while Sirius worked.

"Trying to overpower it," Sirius said. "I know better than to try an actual spell. Magic and electricty do not get along. I've just got to feed enough raw magic into the area for the electricity to stop working."

That was the other brilliant part of Sirius' idea. Goblin wards would detect it if they cursed something to unleash fiendfyre and tried to get it into the bank. Muggle explosives, on the other hand, wouldn't even register. They'd seem completely innocuous to a magical examination.

Ginny still had the ring horcrux in her pocket. She and Sirius would need to test if a non-magical explosion would harm a horcrux as they hoped it would.

"There!" Sirius announced in a loud whisper. "Quick, cut us a hole."

Ginny aimed and slashed her wand in a smooth arc, silently casting, _Diffindo!_ A section of fence fell loose and Sirius kicked it out of the way. Sirius ducked through, lowering the piece of fence to the ground gently. Ginny followed him quietly towards a heavy metal door in the side of the warehouse.

"Watch out for the cameras," Sirius whispered in warning, taking a rount-a-bout path to reach the door.

For a strange moment, Ginny was struck with the mental image of Colin Creevy perched on the roof of the warehouse before remembering what Hermione had once told her about muggle security cameras. There was one such camera mounted on the corner of the fence they'd just broken through, but it was pointed in the other direction. Ginny looked around for the camera Sirius had been avoiding and spotted it on the wall above them.

Ginny turned to the door this time while Sirius kept an eye out. There was a heavy metal lock next to a keypad. Sirius nodded at her and she pointed her wand, whispering, "_Alohamora!_"

The door unlatched with a deep thunk, and Ginny had exactly three seconds to grin as she pulled it open before an incredibly loud noise nearly scared her out of her skin.

* * *

Riley leaped from rooftop to rooftop, feeling the wind in his hair and the moonlight on his face. The streets were peaceful, but he would stay wary as he bounded over the city. There would be trouble. He just had to find it.

A faint sound rose out of the nearby industrial district. Riley paused on the peak of a tall, tiled roof to listen. After a moment, Riley realized. It was an alarm!

"The Guardian comes!" Riley proclamed to the night, grinning with excitement as he sprinted towards the sound and sprang off the roof.

His bounding low-gravity leaps got him across the city as quickly as a speeding car might have. He would certainly get there before the police could. Riley grinned fearcely. His presence tonight _would_ matter.

With a final flying leap, Riley landed only somewhat gracefully atop the very high chainlink fence. The barbed wire bent away from him, kept a few inches from his skin, and with tendrils of power sunk straight into the metal of the fence, it couldn't electrocute him.

Riley scanned the warehouse, looking for signs of trouble. Then he saw something that made him freeze and almost fall from his perch. Once he recovered from the shock he honestly didn't know how he had maintained control of his powers, but that was secondary.

There were two glowing people inside the warehouse.

Riley could see their lumenescent white outlines right through the metal walls - there were no windows. Suddenly, it wasn't fun anymore. Riley wasn't afraid. Far from it. He was determined, now. There was no going back. He was a superhero.

He had to be. He'd just discovered his first supervillains.

The larger of the sillouettes was doing something. With a flash of power, the blaring alarm cut off and there was a sudden silence. He - Riley thought it looked like a man, not a woman - rejoined the smaller one and appeared to be searching for something. Riley needed to see what. These people were indeed _super_villains. They had powers too. Whatever they were trying to steal, it couldn't be for anything good.

There were no windows, but there was a narrow gap between the roof and the walls. Riley pushed off softly from the fence, drifting silently across the space between it and the warehouse. _Sticky,_ he told himself, landing on the wall. He wrapped his power around his hands and concentrated on _feeling_ sticky. He could hear a police siren off in the distance, still very far away.

Riley's hands adhered to the brick and he came to rest, hanging on the wall. He lifted himself cautiously and peered through the gap.

The two glowing sillouettes became a dark-haired man and a red-headed girl, who were searching through a series of large metal lockers. Their clothing was oddly mismatched and seemed vaguely old-fashioned. Riley was surprised to see that the girl didn't look any older than he was. Not that he would underestimate her. She had the same intent confidence on her face as the man, an expression that said, _I do not fear the night, for I am that which makes the night frightening._

The girl moved to the next locker - a big, refrigerated thing with a heavy lock - and did something Riley couldn't see. Both the girl and the lock pulsed with power and the heavy door popped open.

"Here!" the girl called. "I think this is it."

The man quickly joined her at the refrigerator and they exchanged a few quick words, reaching in and pulling out what looked like a large steel suitcase. Their voices were too low for Riley to hear them clearly.

" - the stuff."

" - much - need? Should - all off it?"

The man nodded. " - just - whole case."

" - it safe - with this stuff? We need - out - now. - be here - siren."

"Just don't splinch the case," the man said with a laugh like a dog's bark. "That - be bad."

The girl grumbled something in reply that Riley didn't catch.

The siren was getting closer, but it was still a good minute away by Riley's guess. It was up to him. He pulled himself up, prepairing to shimmy through the gap between the roof and wall, but before he could even stick his head all the way through, the man and the girl _imploded_.

It was the only way he could think to describe what happened. They each flashed blindingly bright to Riley's power-sight, and then collapsed in on themselves and disappeared as if sucked out of existance.

"They just _teleported_," Riley concluded aloud, staring at their fading afterimages with consternation.

Riley wondered if he could do that. So far each ability he'd figured out had come from concentrating on a single _feeling_. He didn't know how teleportation could be translated into a feeling. _Elsewhere_, perhaps? But then that wasn't really a feeling. Maybe he couldn't teleport after all, but then the two supervillians could and they glowed the same way Riley did.

He'd have to figure it out later. He didn't want to be there when the police showed up. Riley turned, bracing against the wall and leaping off with all his strength. He sailed over the fence and started roof-hopping back into more populated areas of the city. He may have failed his first trial, but there were still other people out there he could help.

Every superhero starts out small, he reminded himself. He would do what good he could, he'd keep his eyes open, and next time, the villians wouldn't get away. Next time, the Guardian would save the day.

Riley landed on a longer, flat rooftop and increased his weight a bit so he could sprint and pick up speed. With a growl, he pushed himself until he could go no faster and then dove into the air, making himself almost completely weightless. He shot through the cool air of the London night, arcing high over the city that he would try his very best to protect.

* * *

Ginny apparated in the medow behind the Burrow, big case of muggle explosives in hand. Sirius arrived next to her a moment later.

"So much for doing that quietly," Ginny said.

"Oh come off it. That was fun and you know it," Sirius chuckled.

Ginny rolled her eyes but smiled. She set the metal case down carefully, sitting on a tree root as she undid the latches. The case opened with a soft hissing sound, and Sirius crouched down to look inside. There were three rows of large canisters held in some sort of dark grey padding. Ginny counted eighteen in all.

"Wait, before we do anything else, let me put a Chilling Charm on the case," Sirius said, tapping the metal with his wand. "We found this in the ice box for a reason."

Ginny blanched, nodding. "Right. How many of these do you think it will take?"

"One would be enough to reduce the Burrow to splinters and charcoal," Sirius said. "So we'll start with two. Wedge the horcrux between them, stand _far_ back, and hit them with an Incendiary Charm."

He tapped two of the canisters, muttering the Cushioning Charm and the Chilling Charm for each one. Sirius put his wand away and carefully lifted the two cylinders out of the case. Once he was clear, Ginny closed the case and placed it firmly into the hollow beneath the root she was sitting on.

"Alright," Ginny said, standing up. "Let's see if this works."

Sirius disapparated carefully and Ginny quickly followed suit.

In quick succession, Ginny and Sirius apparated on the same cold, desolate mountain peak where they'd destroyed the locket. Ginny hurried forward to the same rock they'd used last time and set the ring down on the scorched stone. She backed away as Sirius came forward, gently placing the cansters on either side of the horcrux while Ginny made her way up the ridge until she found a spot far enough away with stable footing. Sirius ran to join her.

"_Protego!_" Ginny cast.

A shimmering sphere of force expanded into being between them and the rock with the horcrux. It hummed faintly, a high-pitched almost musical sound, and distorted sight like something halfway between glass and water.

"Good idea," Sirius said, taking aim around the side of Ginny's shield. "Here goes nothing. _Incendio!_"

The blast was deafening.

Sirius' spell ignited the nitroglycerin, and the explosion slammed into the Shield Charm so hard it cracked. The magical backlash sent Ginny tumbling backwards into Sirius. The noise was incredible. Like a thunderclap directly to the face. Ginny and Sirius hit the ground as the echo of the explosion played across the mountain peaks and valleys.

"Ow," Ginny commented, blinking up at the stars.

Sirius sat up, grinning like a little kid. "Now that was cool."

Ginny started laughing helplessly and let her head fall back onto the ground. After a moment she staggered to her feet, looking down into the blast crater for any sign of the horcrux. The boulder they'd used was completely gone. Ginny jogged forward to ground zero and knelt down on the hot rubble, looking for the ring.

"Did it work?" Sirius asked.

What she found was two pieces of twisted slag that vaguely resembled halves of a small metal hoop. A tiny chip of white stone was embedded in one of the halves, but the horcrux was well and truly destroyed.

"I'd say so," Ginny said, a smile spreading across her face as she slipped the broken ring into her pocket. "Now we just have to figure out how to get the rest of that case into the Lestranges' vault and rig it to go off."

"Oh Merlin, the goblins are going to throw a fit," Sirius chuckled.

"Let them," Ginny growled. "I'm not holding back for anything. I will not lose Harry again."

Sirius regarded her quietly for several moments. He set his hand on her shoulder and said lowly, "Agreed."

Once again, they disapparated from the scorched and blasted mountaintop with a pair of echoing cracks that joined the much larger explosion in the silence of the starlit night.


	7. Timing

**~Timing~**

"Your brothers have the Marauder's Map?" Sirius repeated incredulously.

It was morning three days after they'd blown up the ring horcrux. Sirius had spent the time trying to figure out what sort of non-electrical mechanism they could build to set off their remaining stash of explosive, without much progress. Ginny had suggested searching for something useful in her dad's collection of muggle stuff.

Ginny nodded, carefully picking through a laundry basket full of broken lightbulbs. "They found it in Filch's office in their first year. Fred and George, total Marauder fanboys. But you see the problem."

"I always wondered about that. Hah! James was _sure_ Dumbledore had it. But I do see the problem," Sirius said from the other side of the shed. "Your brothers would probably be just _slightly curious_ why they were seeing their ostensibly-ten-year-old sister's name roaming the halls."

"To put it mildly," Ginny said, giving up on the basket of lightbulbs and crouching down to look through a bin of dusty cables. "I think I'm going to have to take the risk anyway, though. I can't think of an alternative and we need to have the diadem in hand before we move on the cup and the diary, to be safe."

"How bad would it be if your brothers did see you on the Map?" Sirius asked after a moment.

"If we're lucky, they'll think its a malfunction," Ginny said. "But we're not that lucky."

Sirius chuckled.

"Mostly likely, it'll drive them mad until they get a chance to corner me and demand to know how the bloody hell I managed to get to Hogwarts and back without Mum knowing," Ginny said, smiling at the thought. "I suppose I could tell them about how I've been sneaking out to fly their brooms since I was eight, and remind them how badly I wanted to go to Hogwarts this year, and let them draw their own conclusions."

"You know," Sirius said. "You are entirely too good at that lieing-with-truths thing."

Ginny laughed. "I sort of have to be, don't I? What with all my time-traveling secrets and such."

"I suppose so," Sirius admited, suddenly diving into a mass of metal trinkets and emerging with something small and cylindrical. "Ahah! An intact sparkplug and a pack of matches. That'll do nicely."

Ginny grinned and went to the shed's door to peek out and make sure the coast was clear. It wasn't.

"Oh crap," Ginny hissed. "Sirius, my dad's coming!"

Sirius froze for a painfully long moment before he was suddenly replaced by a large black dog. Ginny moved away from the door and her mind ground to a halt as she forced it to shift directions. _I'm ten years old, I was playing out here and I found a stray dog. I'm in the shed because I chased the dog in here._

Ginny knelt down and swiped some dirt off the ground and rubbed it into Padfoot's fur. The door to the shed creaked open and Ginny adjusted her movement to look like she'd been petting him. "Hey, boy, see it's alright."

"Eeep!" came the voice of her father.

Ginny flinched like she'd been caught at something and looked around. "Oh, um, hi Daddy."

Aurthur Weasley blinked several times and then focused on his daughter. "You gave me quite a fright just there, Ginny. You know you're not supposed to be in here. So who's this then?"

Ginny smiled a guilty smile as she stood up. "Sorry, Dad. I followed him in here. He's cool! I call him Padfoot." _Crap! I meant to say Snuffles!_

"Padfoot, huh?" her dad repeated, looking at the dog that was giving him a goofy dog grin. "He does look rather like a Grim, doesn't he?"

Ginny studied Sirius as though the idea had never occured to her. "You're right, Dad, but he's much to friendly to be a Grim."

"Yes, well, run along now," Aurthur said, pulling Ginny into a hug. "I was just about off to work."

"Okay," Ginny said. "Bye, Dad."

Sirius bolted and Ginny chased after him, laughing like a little kid. Sirius ran a circle around her and barked a few times before taking off into the trees. Ginny followed him to the clearing, where Sirius returned to human form and sat down in the grass. Ginny caught up and rested her hands on her knees.

"See what I mean about us not being lucky?" Ginny asked wryly. "My dad almost never visits his shed on the way to work in the morning. At least you have a cover story now."

"There is that," Sirius said. "It probably wasn't a good idea to call me Padfoot."

Ginny sat down. "I know. I wasn't thinking fast enough. I should have used Snuffles."

"That's what I was about to - right. Future," Sirius said, waving it off. "So when are you going to try for the diadem?"

Ginny paused for a moment. "I guess now is as good a time as any. Fred and George aren't morning people, and I've still got maybe half an hour before students start heading for breakfast."

"Can you do Disillusionment?" Sirius asked.

"No," Ginny admited with a smirk, "but between the twins and Harry, I probably know the secret passages and shortcuts better than you do."

Sirius grinned. "Oh we'll have to see about that sometime. So you're just going to stroll right into the castle like you belong there?"

"Pretty much," Ginny said with a sigh. "It's a pretty shitty plan as plans go, but it's all I've got."

"Well, it's ballsy as hell. I'll give it that much," Sirius said.

Ginny pulled the hood up on her muggle-style sweatshirt and disapparated.

* * *

With a crack that was entirely too loud, Ginny apparated in the cellar of Honeyduke's. The sound of her apparating was almost immediately followed by a much louder wailing that startled Ginny, causing her to drop to the floor with her wand out. It was an intruder alarm. Apparently Honeyduke's had the less expensive sort of anti-apparition wards.

"Damnit! Not again!" Ginny complained, lurching for the trapdoor and yanking it open.

Ginny slid down into the passage and got the trapdoor closed just as the sound of feet came down from above. Another close call. Ginny took a deep breath and started off down the tunnel. She went quickly, nearly running, and the sound of the magical alarm soon faded with distance. She had to get all the way to the Room of Requirement and back to the secret passage before Hogwarts served breakfast or she was certain to be caught.

At the statue of the one-eyed witch, Ginny peeked out carefully and listened for footsteps. The corridor was quiet and dim, illuminated only by the muted light of dawn. She slipped out of the passage and bolted as quietly as she could down towards a tapestry that concealed the first of the shortcuts she'd chosen when planning her route.

Amazingly, Ginny reached her destination without running into a single soul, though she was forced to duck and hide a few times. Once there, however, Ginny froze in the middle of the corridor, in full view of anyone who might happen along.

_Okay, I wasn't expecting that,_ she thought, staring dumbly.

The Room of Requirement was _gone_. There was a hole in the castle where the enchanted room ought to be and a whole section of roped-off corridor. After a moment, Ginny's mind ground into motion again and she flinched, looking around to make sure she was still alone. She was, but she didn't wait around for that to change. Moving quickly, Ginny retraced her route and made her way back to the one-eyed witch.

Ginny's wand was already pointed and in the process of opening the secret passage when she heard hurried footsteps and a familiar pair of boy's voices arguing in urgent tones. _Oh come on! Could anything else go wrong today?_

"Hey! Stop!"

Already throwing herself into the passage, Ginny closed it behind her and took off at a flat run. She heard the one-eyed witch open and close again behind her. Oh they'd seen her. Two sets of pursuing footfalls echoed dully down the earthen tunnel. They'd _definitely_ seen her. She still had her hood up, concealing her Weasley hair, but she knew her brothers' voices and she was completely certain it was Fred and George behind her, which meant they'd seen her on the Map - _Fuck_.

"Hey!"

"Ginny, if that's actually you-!"

"Hold it or we'll tell Mum!"

Ginny ignored them and kept sprinting.

"_Ruocoa!_" one of them shouted.

Ginny twisted and slapped the Tripping Jinx into the wall with a flick of her wand. She was running flat out. She had to be close to the edge of the grounds by now. Ginny deflected a Leg-Locker from one of the twins and tried to apparate. She slammed into the Hogwarts wards and nearly stumbled. Mentally cursing, Ginny fired a silent _Impedimenta!_ blindly over her shoulder and kept running. She couldn't look behind her to aim - Fred or George might see her face.

"Damnit, whoever you are, _stop_!"

The passage started sloping upwards again and Ginny though she could see light filting down in the distance. Without preamble or bothering to slow down, Ginny closed her eyes and concentrated. There was a crack like a thunderclap, and Ginny was gone.

* * *

"Ginny? What happened?" Sirius asked once Ginny had reappeared in the clearing at high speed and fallen flat on her face.

She rolled onto her back and started thudding her head against the ground. "Fred and George caught me."

Sirius groaned sympathetically.

"I don't think they saw enough to be _sure_ it was me," Ginny said, "but they're going to be _just slightly curious_."

"Did you get the horcrux, at least?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Ginny sat up and started laughing bitterly. "Nope. It was already destroyed. The entire Room of Requirement is _gone_. There is a _huge fucking hole_ in the side of the castle! That was _not there_ last time."

After several stunned moments, Sirius sat down with a thoughtful look on his face. "I wonder if it was you coming back that caused it. Maybe the Room can only be used for time-travel once?"

"Maybe," Ginny sighed. "I'm gonna go home and try to decide what to do about Fred and George."

* * *

That afternoon, the mail arrived. Ginny was sitting in the den, toying with the edge of her skirt and wondering how to divert the twins, or, bring them in on the secret safely. She was also trying _not_ to dwell on the fact that her excursion that morning had been _completely pointless_ and more than a little stupid.

"Ginny, dear, you have a letter," her mother called, walking in from the kitchen with a knowing smile.

Ginny faultered, blinked, and quickly wrenched her mind around to her ten-year-old self. "Oh! From who?"

Mum wordlessly handed over the envelope. Ginny grinned when she saw Ron's handwritting on the front and eagerly tore it open. "It's from Ron about Hogwarts!"

"So it is," Mum said, patting Ginny affectionately and heading back to the kitchen. "I'm so glad he remembered to write. I half expected..."

_Dear Ginny, ..._

_Fred and George and Percy had  
__to remind me to write. And then  
__Harry had to. It's just been exciting!  
__The food is AWESOME. There's  
__so much different kinds and it all  
__appears at once at mealtimes and  
__there's SO MUCH to choose from  
__its brilliant. I'm friends with Harry  
__now too. Did you know he was  
__HARRY POTTER when we met  
__him at the Platform? He says "hi"  
__by the way. He's not at all like  
__the stories. He has lots of money  
__but he was raised by MUGGLES  
__and he didn't even know he was  
__rich, or a wizard! You should see  
__him on a broom, though. It was  
__the coolest thing ever! Make sure  
__you tell Mum I remembered to  
__write so she doesn't get mad._

_Love, ...  
__Ron..._

_P.S. Did you know somebody  
__blew up part of the castle? It's  
__crazy. There's a huge hole in  
__the wall up by the tapestry of  
__Barnabas the Barmy and no  
__one can go through that way._

Ginny stared at the letter. Even while a small part of her was very happy about the mention of Harry thinking of her - that hadn't been in the similar letter she'd gotten from Ron a week or so later in the original timeline - she mostly wanted to kick herself in the head. If she'd just waited _eight hours_ before charging off into Hogwarts and read the letter beforehand...

With a groan, Ginny dropped her forehead into her hand and muttered, "This is not my best day ever."


	8. Acts of Heroism

**~Acts of Heroism~**

Ron was in a very bad mood when Professor Flitwik dismissed that class on the morning of Halloween.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor. "She's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you."

"So?" Ron said, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"I'm sure she's noticed," Harry agreed. "I think that's why she was crying."

Ron's face set in an expression that was half guilt, half stubborness. "It's her own fault, always treating us like we're stupid, just because we're not _obsessed_ with our grades."

Harry thought this was a bit unfair of Ron, who was just as obsessed with quidditch as Hermione was with grades, and called anyone who didn't like the game insane. Harry refrained from pointing this out, though, not wanting to argue about it.

Hermione wasn't present in their next class.

While taking notes on the properties of organic to inorganic transfiguration, Ron's guilt slowly won out over his stubborness. By the end of the lesson, Harry was also starting to feel a little guilty. For Hermione to be missing class, she must be _very_ upset. Even though he'd never actually said anything mean _to_ Hermione, he wasn't entirely sure that wasn't just because Ron always got there first.

Classes over, Harry and Ron headed down for the Halloween feast. They happened to walk passed Parvati Patil talking to her friend, Lavender, in the halls.

" - haven't seen Hermione all day," Lavender said.

"She wanted to be left alone," Parvati replied. "She's still crying in the girls' bathroom."

Ron winced, looking still more awkward at this, but moments later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds.

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.

Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to konw."

He sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Percy was in his element. "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," Ron said. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.

"I've just thought - Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll!"

Ron bit his lip. "Oh, all right, but Percy'd better not see us."

Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when Harry heard quick footsteps behind them.

"Percy!" Ron hissed, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin.

Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Search me," Ron shrugged.

Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps. Once the potions professor was gone, the corridor was quiet and empty but for the two of them.

"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Ron held up his hand.

"Can you smell something?"

Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of pulic toilet no one seems to clean. And then they heard it - a low grunting, and the shuffling of footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed - at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."

"Good idea," Ron said nervously.

They edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.

"_Yes!_"

Flushed with victory, Harry and Ron started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop - a high, terrified scream - and it was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up.

"Oh, no," Ron said, pale as the Blood Baron.

"That was the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.

"_Hermione!_" they said together.

It was the last thing they wanted to do, but Harry was already wheeling around. They sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Harry pulled the door open and they ran inside.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the opposite wall, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confused it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.

"Oy, pea-brain!" Ron yelled from the other side of the chamber as he threw a metal pipe at the troll. It didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.

"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she wouldn't move. She was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid. He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped - it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright. Ron pulled out his own wand and without pausing to think, shouted, "_Wingardium Leviosa!_"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high up into the air, turned slowly over, and dropped onto its owner's head with a sickening crack. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised and his mouth open, staring at what he had done.

It was Hermione who spoke first. "Is it - dead?"

"I don't think so," Harry said as he retrieved his wand from the troll's nose, which was still passing air. "I think it's just been knocked out. Urgh. Troll boogers."

Harry wiped his wand off on the troll's trousers. For several long moments no one said anything. At last, Hermione managed to get to her feet, but she was white as a sheet and still pressed against the wall. Ron finally seemed to see his own hand in front of his face and lowered his wand.

"Er, are you okay, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Um, um," Hermione replied after a moment, looking down at herself. "Yes?"

"Then come on," Harry said. "Let's get out of here before it wakes up."

Hermione nodded vigorously and this seemed to jolt Ron out of his stupor. The three of them hurried out of the bathroom and, remembering the original plan, Harry shut the door behind them and locked the unconsious troll in. The corridor outside was still deserted.

"Reckon we should head back to the tower?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "That's where we were supposed to go, but that was when - hey you don't suppose there's _more than one_ troll?"

Ron's eyes widened in fear and he whipped his head around as though expecting to find another troll looming behind him. They quickly set off through the empty corridor.

"If you hadn't found me, I'd be dead now," Hermione said in a small voice.

"Well it was sort of our fault that you weren't at dinner," Harry said, shrugging uncomfortably.

A moment of silence passed. "Thanks, for saving me."

"You're welcome, you know, what else were we going to do," Ron fumbled.

"Where are the _teachers_?" Hermione suddenly exclaimed as they climbed a staircase. "That was a _troll_! In the school! How can the adults not be dealing with it?"

Before Harry could offer any more guesses, a thundering rumble shook the castle and the stone shook beneath his feet. Ron and Hermione stumbled and only managed to keep their feet by catching each other. Harry spun around, realizing where they were and what direction the concussion had come from.

"That came from the forbidden corridor," Harry concluded. "We're on the third floor."

"Oh no," Hermione said. "We have to go by that way to get back to Gryffindor Tower!"

"Are you sure there isn't another way?" Ron asked.

"Not any I know of," Hermione said.

"What do we do?" Harry wondered. "We can't just - get down!"

The decision was taken out of their hands as the nearby wall exploded. Stone shattered in a wave of intense heat and Harry dove for the ground, yanking Hermione with him. He hit the floor and covered his head, evading the worst of it, but there was a high-pitched scream of pain as Ron fell nearby with a mangled left arm that had only bits of tattered robe stuck to it.

Harry twisted around as another, larger body thudded into the stone behind him in a shower of rubble. Harry was rather shocked to see Professor Snape, battered and burnt, hiss, "Stay down!" and rise from a crouch, sprinting forward to do battle with something that looked like a giant snake made of solid fire.

The air shimmered with heat around the body of the firey serpent, but Harry could make out a figure standing behind it, and was even more shocked to recognize a Professor Quirrell with glowing red eyes and a face twisted with menace.

Snape's wand lashed out and something that looked like a black tornado tipped on its side shot into the flaming snake, piercing it through the middle. Quirell ducked under the flailing snake as it was blasted back, leaping up and fireing back with bolt of evil-looking green light.

Harry gasped. _That green light! My nightmares!_

Snape twisted aside, flicking his wand at a piece of rubble that leaped up into the path of Quirell's spell and exploded. Shrapnel bounced off a glittering bubble that sprang into being before Snape even as he ducked to the side and fired another spell that looked a bit like a spinning purple disc.

The evil man who looked like Quirell slapped the spell away and swept his wand in a circle that made all the broken pieces of stone glow red-hot and fly at Professor Snape. The potions professor tried to protect himself and the three students behind him with another one of those glassy spheres, but the shards of stone exploded like small bombs when they struck his shield and he was blown off his feet again.

Harry was already on his feet, pushing for Hermione to run as he hauled Ron over his shoulder by the red-head's undamaged arm and dove out of the way. Snape and the glowing stones struck the wall where they'd been cowering and a deafening blast singed Harry's skin and knocked him sprawling next to Hermione.

Twisting around as he regained his feet, Harry spotted Snape slumped in a heap in a pile of broken stone. He looked up, defiant, but was very obviously beaten. Quirell stepped calmly through the hole he'd made in the first wall and joined them in that corridor. He looked down at Snape with disgust.

"I admit you surprised me, Severus," Quirell said in a voice that sounded like two different voices speaking at once. "I fully expected you to aid me when I, in an admittedly desperate moment, revealed myself to you. I see now that I was foolish not to doubt your loyalty. _Crucio!_"

Snape didn't exactly scream, but the sound of agony he made was somehow worse. Harry felt Hermione grab his arm and realized that he'd been about to charge in and do what, he didn't know. He looked at her frantically, casting about the corridor, searching for some way to stop whatever was happening to Professor Snape.

After an agonizing few minutes, Quirell lifted his wand and Snape slumped down in a panting heap. "Fuck. You. Riddle."

Quirell grinned menacingly. "You have not merely defied me, Severus, you have _betrayed_ me. For that you would be made to _beg_ for death, but I find myself unfortunately short on time. I admit to a certain curiosity, however. When was it that you turned your back on your master?"

Snape merely spit on Quirell's robes, fist clenching around the broken handle of his wand.

"It wasn't because of that mudblood you wanted, was it? That would be petulant even by your standards, Severus," Quirell snarled.

"You are a blind fool," Snape chuckled weakly, coughing up a bit of blood as he spoke in a strained voice. "You never could understand how love is so much more dangerous than fear. Dumbledore was right. Blind. Fool."

"Love this," Quirell sneered. "_Avada Kedavra!_"

Hermione let out a squeak of fright as another flash of green light struck Snape in the chest and left him utterly and completely dead. Harry was already dragging a deliriously mumbling Ron behind cover, but Hermione stood rooted in place as Quirell turned his burning red eyes towards them and Harry's scar erupted in pain.

It seemed to click all at once and Harry knew quite suddenly that he was looking at Voldemort. How the dark lord could be here, he couldn't guess, but it had come on him in a moment of clarity that left no room for surprise or doubt. Harry fought through the pain in his scar and reached for his wand, wishing he knew even one powerful spell like what Snape and Voldemort had been throwing at each other.

An oddly detached corner of Harry's mind wondered, _Did he seriously just say "love this" when he killed Snape? What a lame -_

"Ah. Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed. "It seems only fitting that you should be here."

"Hermione!" Harry called urgently under his breath, but the bushy-haired girl was still standing still as a statue in the middle of the corridor.

"I do regret that I can't spare the time to properly destroy the source of my so-called downfall," Voldemort said calmly. "But I have a rather important errand, you see, and Dumbledore will only remain distracted so long. I suppose simply killing you and your little friends will have to suffice."

"Dumbledore will destroy you!" Harry declared, hands clenched in white-knuckled terror, but more than afraid, Harry was angry. He was looking at the murderer of his parents, the reason he'd grown up at the Dursley's, and the source of the burning scar on his forehead.

Voldemort simply shrugged. He raised his wand slowly, aiming not at Harry, but at Hermione. "_Avada Kedavra!_"

Harry could not recall making any sort of decision, but as the bolt of green death flew towards the bushy-haired girl, Harry launched himself from cover and dove in front of her. Hermione screamed, falling backwards as she watched her death come for her, when Harry made it into the spell's path.

The spell slammed into Harry's chest, catching him in mid-air and spinning him around. His head collided with Hermione's ribs as the force of the impact threw Harry into her and sent them both sliding away down the corridor. The bolt of green reflected off at an angle, slamming into the celling and exploding in a shower of dust and broken stone.

Harry was in pain but he was, shockingly, still alive. Whatever had saved him as a baby must still be in effect. He quickly scrambled to his feet and helped Hermione up. She was wide-eyed but no longer paralyzed in her terror.

"That's You-Know-Who!" Hermione exclaimed as her eyes snapped back and forth between Harry's chest, the crater in the celling, and the advancing red-eyed man.

"Hermione, we've got to run!" Harry said.

"What about Ron?"

Harry glanced over at the mumbling red-haired heap. "_You_ run! I'll get Ron!"

Hermione lifted tear-filled eyes to Harry's face. "No! You'll die!"

There was a clap of fire, and a calm voice said, "No one else will be dieing this evening, Miss Granger."

Dumbledore was standing before them with a beautiful red bird on his shoulder. He was wearing what would have looked a lot like muggle body armor if it hadn't been in several different primary colors and possesed a lot of extraneous straps and buckles.

"Dumbledore," Voldemort spat.

"You'll not be obtaining the stone, Tom," Dumbledore said mildly, eyes darting briefly over Snape's corpse. "Seeing as you've already deprived me of one professor and a good friend, I don't suppose you'll release poor Professor Quirell."

Voldemort only laughed, slinging a dark purple spell that Dumbledore deftly sidestepped.

"No, I didn't think so," Dumbledore said sadly, but with an unmistakable hardness.

With a grim expression, the venerable old headmaster sprang forward to do battle in defense of his students.

* * *

(**A/N:** Hey what do ya know, Harry Potter in a harry potter fic; who'd of thought? You'll notice that pieces of this chapter were taken directly from the first book; some things just don't change, but then, some things do, such as a certain dark lord being a bit more desperate than he was the first time around; which is only natural when as far as he knows, one of his horcruxes just randomly exploded at the start of term.)


	9. Double Trouble

**~Double Trouble~**

Ginny lay sprawled over an armchair in the sitting room of the Burrow, ostensibly listening to a quidditch game on the wireless. Her mum and dad were in the kitchen, having a moment. Ginny thought it was very sweet, but was still doing her absolute best to ignore her parents' murmurs of affection and listen to the voice on the wireless talking about a play the Hollyhead Harpies had just executed.

Padfoot was curled up by the ember glow of the fireplace, looking like he wanted to laugh at her. Ginny rolled her eyes at him, toying idly with the palm-sized jack-o-lantern she'd carved out earlier with her mum.

Days earlier, she and Sirius had managed to finish a reliable trigger that they were reasonably sure would ignite their remaining stash of muggle explosive after an hour ticked by on the wind-up pocket watch he'd attached. Sirius was still working on the fraudulent Deposit Documents, but getting something into a bank vault was a lot easier than getting something out of one.

Ginny was optimistic. All that remained was the diary. The worst case scenario as far as she could figure, was the diary finding its way to some other innocent first-year, in which case Ginny could help Harry find the Chamber of Secrets right away, instead of after months of lives being at risk.

That wasn't the plan, of course. The plan was to steal the diary long before the next school year started. She still hadn't quite figured out how to pull that off yet, but it was only Halloween. She had nearly ten months before she had to be done with the horcruxes - ten months before she touched her Hogwarts letter and was put under the Trace.

A sudden flurry of wings drew Ginny out of her thoughts as her dad's voice said, "Oh my, what's this?"

Ginny heard a rustling of parchment and the departure of an owl and then dead silence for almost a minute. Ginny sat up, curious. This was about when Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be facing the troll, if she remembered correctly, but last time there hadn't been any notice sent to any of their parents. They'd only heard about it days later from Percy.

"Ginny?" her mum's voice called, sounding anxious.

"Yeah, Mum?"

"Could you go get your coat on, please?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sirius, who shrugged his dog shoulders. "Why? What is it?"

Her dad's voice murmured something soft that Ginny didn't catch as she pulled her coat on and went into the kitchen. Molly swept her up into a hug.

"Oh it's Ron," her mum fretted. "We've just got a letter from Hogwarts. Ron's been injured."

"What? How?" Ginny demanded.

"The letter only says there was an unfortunate incident and that Ron's not in immediate danger," her dad said. "Don't worry, we're going to see him right now."

Ginny felt queasy as a vivid image of a troll's club taking Ron's head off sprang into her mind. She quickly stomped on that thought and chided herself. Whatever had happened differently with the troll, Ron had obviously survived it, and anything he could live through, Madam Pomphrey could fix.

Padfoot looked over and barked his curiosity as Ginny and her parents prepaired to floo out. Ginny shook her head slightly and mouthed, "Ron."

* * *

"Molly. Aurthur," Professor McGonagall greeted them soberly when the three Weasleys emerged from the fireplace in her office. "I'm terribly sorry about this. And this must be the young Ginerva?"

"Hello. Yes, I'm Ginny."

"What's happened to our son, Minerva?" Molly asked.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "We're still gathering the whole story. It appears that Ronald was injured as a bystander in a duel between Professors Snape and Quirell."

"Why on earth were two grown men - professors even! - dueling in the halls of a school full of children?" Molly demanded. "I ought to give them a piece of my mind!"

"I'm afraid that will be impossible, Molly," Professor McGonagall said somberly. "Both Professors Snape and Quirell are now deceased."

Molly blinked in shock. "What?"

"We'll get to the details shortly," Professor McGonagall assured them. "However, I'm sure that just now you'd prefer to see your son."

The Weasleys nodded and the professor escorted them to the hospital wing. Ginny struggled to keep her surprise off her face. She didn't think things at Hogwarts would change so _much_ so _soon_. Ginny was afraid that something crucial had changed. Had they faced the troll at all? What if Hermione never became their friend? For a fleeting moment, Ginny was terrified that she'd inadvertently broken the Golden Trio.

It was obvious what had changed things. Voldemort may not have known why or how, but he'd been right there, possessing Quirell, when the Room of Requirement had exploded and destroyed the diadem horcrux. That alone could have easily changed Voldemort's plans enough that the events of the first timeline no longer applied.

That was a problem, but not an unexpected one. Ginny had merely hoped it would happen much later. In any case it wasn't a game changer. Voldemort couldn't create any new horcruxes without at least a rudimentary body. That was a risk now that events had deviated, though. She would have to kill Barty Crouch Jr. _tomorrow_. It was not safe to put that off any longer.

They reached the hospital wing, and Ginny let out a huge sigh of relief. Hermione was there. Harry was seated at Ron's bedside and Hermione was hovering over his shoulder, looking anxious. Ginny's parents started a low conversation with Madam Pomphrey about Ron's condition while Ginny split away toward's Ron's bed.

Ginny offered a smile of greeting to Harry and Hermione as Ron blinked his eyes open and spotted her. "Ginny? What're you doin' here?"

"Mum and Dad came to see you when they got word you were hurt," Ginny explained. "They're talking to the healer lady right now."

"Oh."

Ginny looked Ron over. His left arm was heavily bandaged along with some of the left side of his face, and if Ginny had to guess, some of his left leg as well. He must have been on a fair few healing potions because he didn't seem to be fully awake. She looked up at the other two.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny said and Harry smiled before she turned to Hermione. "Hello. I'm Ginny. I'm Ron's sister."

"Uh nice to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger."

"So, what happened?" Ginny asked. "McGonagall said something about a duel between two of the professors and that they _died_."

"They did," Hermione said in a rush. "It was dreadful. Professor Quirell was fighting Professor Snape only it wasn't actually Professor Quirell, but he killed Professor Snape, and then he - he - and then Harry saved my life. Again."

Harry absently rubbed a spot on his chest, not meeting any of their eyes. "Yes, well, he only tried to kill you because I was there - you heard him."

"You don't know that, Harry," Hermione countered. "Even if you weren't, uh, you, he still might have wanted to eliminate witnesses."

"I suppose," Harry admitted.

"You saved Ron's life, too, didn't you," Ginny said, recognizing the look on Harry's face.

"I, er, just pulled him out of the way," Harry said. "After he got hurt."

Ginny went around the bed until she was close enough to take one of his hands. She held it in both of hers and tilted her neck around to make Harry look her in the eye. Harry blinked in surprise at the contact, seemingly unable to decide how to react.

"It wasn't your fault he was in harm's way, Harry," Ginny said firmly. "You saved him."

Harry looked away, seemingly unsettled. "I suppose, I mean that did happen before he recognized me."

"Before who recognized you?" Ginny asked as if she didn't already know.

There was a pause as though Harry was wondering if he should be telling Ginny this, but eventually he did. "Voldemort."

Ginny raised her eyebrows in alarm, but that was all. Hermione and Ron flinched at the name more visibly than Ginny did, and they already knew the story. She probably should have reacted more than she did, but Ginny was finding it extra hard to fake her reactions with Harry there. Misleading him - however necessary it was - made her heart ache.

"He'd taken over Quirell somehow, I think," Harry said, looking disturbed. "When Dumbledore finally beat him, this thing - this sort of black mist came out of Quirell and vanished into the Forbidden Forest."

"Professor Dumbledor said it really was the half-dead shade of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Hermione added with a shiver. "Imagine. He was here, pretending to be a teacher this whole time!"

"We know, Hermione," Harry said gently, as though this were a point that the bushy-haired girl had been stuck on.

Ginny glanced over at her parents, who were pressed together as they spoke with Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomphrey, but there was someone else who _wasn't_ there. "Where is Dumbledore?"

"Dunno," Harry said. "He was up here earlier but he left pretty quick. Said something about having a few questions for an old friend."

Ginny stifled a gasp. Could that mean he'd gone to find Slughorn? Dumbledore had actually seen Voldemort's shade this time. Maybe nature of the shade was somehow recognizable, and Dumbledore was now on the trail of the horcruxes five years early. Maybe this time Dumbledore would figure out there's a horcrux in Harry's scar in time to do something about it!

"Er, Ginny?" Harry said.

He motioned their joined hands and Ginny realized she'd been practically crushing his fingers in her internal excitment. She winced and let go.

"Sorry," Ginny said, giving Harry a wry smile. "I just can't decide if I'm glad I wasn't here or sorry I missed out."

"Missed out?" Hermione repeated.

"Yeah, you know, because fighting for your life is so much fun," Ginny deadpanned, giving Harry a significant look.

Hermione quirked an eyebrow while Harry burst out laughing. The disturbing part was that even Ginny didn't know exactly how much she was kidding. She'd grown up lamenting her place on the sidelines of the Golden Trio's so-called adventures, even though she was just close enough to see how _not fun_ those adventures often were. Of course, that had never been about anything other than her desire to stand at Harry's side when _he_ faced danger - to prove herself worthy of him.

Well, this time around, she knew she was. The shy little girl with a crush was long gone. Being around Harry hadn't made her nervous since that second kiss outside the common room.

Hermione huffed. "That's not funny."

"Hermione, if I had a brother and he'd gotten hurt, I would wish I'd been there," Harry said. "No matter how bad it was."

"You may want to brace yourself, Harry," Ginny said suddenly. "It looks like McGonagall is finished giving my parents the story and Mum looks like she's ready to hug you up until there's nothing left."

The abrupt appearance of that wide-eyed look of startlement on Harry's face was so cute Ginny had a hard time not hugging him herself. Harry could face death without flinching but a little gratitude still scared the tar out of him. Ginny knew he would eventually outgrow it, but that only made it more endearing.

True to form, Molly knelt down and gathered an uncertain Harry into her arms. "You saved my Ron, thank you for saving my boy."

With a sudden thud, the hospital wing doors swung open again and two identical Weasleys strolled in, interupting Harry's stilted acknowledgement.

"Well, if it isn't ickle Ronikins - "

" - looking perfectly fine."

"We were ever so worried - "

" - you'd be too out of sorts - "

" - for us to throw a party!"

"Quite a day he's had, eh Fred?"

"Aye, George! From a foot in the mouth in the morning - "

" - to tripping up a troll in the evening!"

"Quite thoughtful of our favorite Potter to help him get that foot out, it was."

"Oh shut it you two," the half-asleep Ron mumbled, obviously trying not to laugh.

"And if it isn't ickle Gin-Gin!"

"Our most precocious little sister - "

" - who has a very interesting habit - "

" - of turning up, in _unexpected places_."

Ginny stuck her hands on her hips. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Boys," Molly warned, standing now that she'd released Harry. "Keep it down."

"Sorry, Mum," Fred and George chirped in unison.

Aurthur joined them around Ron's bed and Ginny took Harry's hand again. But delay as she might, eventually the Twins got her away from the others and while their parents were distracted with Ron, they dragged Ginny into the hall.

"Alright alright, what gives?" Ginny asked, forcing herself to stay in the mode of a ten-year-old Ginny who had never snuck into Hogwarts.

"You see," George began.

"We have a secret."

"The key to our success."

"And you see, little sis - "

" - its never been wrong -

" - and we are just dieing to know - "

" - why and _how_ on earth did you do it?"

Ginny tried to look annoyed. "What in the name of Merlin's effervescense are you on about?"

"Oh don't play coy with us, Gin-Gin," Fred said.

"We caught you," George said. "Now spill. What in the unholy hells have you gotten into?"

"You mean besides your brooms?" Ginny said before she could stop herself.

"We'll tell you our secret if you tell us yours," Fred added. "Wait, what?"

"Nothing," Ginny sighed. "And fine. But this is not the time or the place."

"So it was you!" George exclaimed.

"You have a lot to explain, little sis," Fred said.

"Seriously. Not here, not now," Ginny said. "Winter break. Come home and I'll tell you what's going on then."

Fred and George exchanged a glance.

"Alright, Gin-Gin. But you'd better have one hell of a story - "

"You have no idea," Ginny muttered under her breath.

" - or we're going to be exceptionally cross with you."

* * *

Once Ginny's parents were done visiting Ron, and Madam Pomphrey had kicked everyone else out, five Weasleys, a Potter, and a Granger, followed Professor McGonagall back to her office. While introductions were shared between Hermione and the parents, Ginny hung back to talk with Harry.

"So," Ginny said, smirking slightly. "I hear that you on a broom is, and I quote, 'the coolest thing ever.'"

Harry laughed. "Is that what Ron said? I don't know if that's right, but flying is my favorite thing about Hogwarts so far, and I must be okay since - did Ron tell you that Professor McGonagall put me on the Quidditch team?"

"No!" Ginny exclaimed. "That's so great! I've never heard of a first-year getting onto a team before. You must be a lot better than okay for that to happen."

"I guess," Harry conceeded with a grin. "Nothing else I've learned has been half as fun or easy as riding a broom. I was so relieved that there was something I wasn't behind everybody else at."

"Most everybody feels lost their first week. Or so I hear," Ginny said. "What position are you playing?"

"Seeker."

"That makes sense," Ginny said. "Seeking is more about raw flying ability than any of the other positions. Chasing is more about coordination and Beating is more about strength and aim."

Harry looked surprised. "You know a lot about Quidditch?"

Ginny nodded emphatically. "I've wanted to be a Chaser sinse the first time I saw a broom. Almost."

"Really?" Harry asked. "Ron talks about Charlie a lot but he never mentioned that."

"He wouldn't," Ginny said, pointing at herself. "Little sister, remember?"

"Why would that matter?"

_Once upon a different time, it mattered to you too, Potter,_ Ginny thought mirthfully. "It's a sibling thing."

Harry shrugged. "You're planning to try out for team when you get to school, then?"

"That's the plan," Ginny said. "I doubt I'll get a spot in my first year, though."

"Yeah, it probably won't be easy. The Chasers on the team now are scary-good. I was lucky that Charlie graduated last year and his spot on the team was open, or I probably wouldn't be playing either."

"Yeah," Ginny sighed. "At least I'll get to watch you and the twins play. I hate that I'm going to miss that this year."

"Ron writes to you, right?" Harry asked after a short pause.

"Sometimes," Ginny said. "You may have noticed, he's not the most literate person ever."

Harry chuckled. "Er, would it be alright if I wrote to you? I could keep you up with the stuff Ron forgets so you don't, you know, feel left out. It would give Hedwig - my owl - something to do."

Ginny looked at him with a wide, warm smile. "I'd like that a lot."

They reached McGonagall's office and Ginny shot forward to give Harry a hug. Molly made a noise but didn't say anything. Ginny's parents thanked Harry again and Hermione said, "It was nice to meet you, Ginny. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley."

Ginny was still grinning when she stepped into the fire. Harry wanted to write to her. Harry _wasn't_ going to get in the habit of thinking of Ginny as merely Ron's little sister. He would be free to want her, and Ginny could feel already in the way Harry was starting to look at her, that this time, whatever happened, she wouldn't be on the sidelines.


	10. Memory

**~Memory~**

"Ooh, look over here Riley!" Charlotte called. "A new _Teen Titans_ is out!"

Riley looked up from the box he was browsing through and ducked around to where Charlotte was standing. The two of them were looking around the comic shop while Riley's parents and Charlotte's mum took care of their lists in the store next door.

"Oh! I've been waiting for this one," Riley said as he and Charlotte bunched up, shoulder to shoulder, and flipped through the thin comic book. "This is the one where they fight Trigon!"

"Raven _is_ your favorite character," Charlotte remembered.

"Yeah," Riley said. "Raven's so cool."

"Not as cool as you," Charlotte teased.

Riley laughed and then murmured, "Hardly. The worst I've had to beat up is drunk guys with pocket knives. And those men in _Matrix_ costumes last night, who had the paintball guns."

"You still haven't seen anyone else with powers since that night at the warehouse?" Charlotte asked.

Riley shook his head. "And I've been looking, but everything is so big when you're on foot, even with superpowers. Maybe I need a Guardianmobile."

"Um," Charlotte started before losing whatever she was going to say in a fit of giggles.

Riley grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, that's probably silly. I don't even know how to drive."

Charlotte giggled some more, but she stopped abruptly when Riley looked over her shoulder and got very wide-eyed. She'd seen enough movies to know what that might mean. With a quiet "Eeep!" she ducked around until she was peeking over Riley's shoulder. She couldn't see anything, but Riley had told her about his powers coming with an extra sort of sight.

"What is it?" Charlotte asked.

"Do you see that black dog?" Riley asked in a low murmur.

Charlotte looked through the storefront window and out into the street. There was indeed a black dog trotting along the opposite sidewalk. She couldn't see a collar on it but it was to far away to be sure.

"What about it?"

"It's glowing."

Charlotte gasped. "Does that mean it's...?"

"Yeah," Riley said. "I'm going to follow it."

* * *

Riley hurried out of the store, turning in the same direction the dog was headed. As soon as he could, Riley ducked into an alley and put his mask on. Once it was secure, he lightened himself and climbed quickly to the roof.

The dog was still in sight, trotting along with its tongue hanging out on the other side of the street. Riley skimmed along his roof's edge, looking for a place to make the leap to the other side where no one would see him.

Bad luck that it was midday.

Riley wasn't too worried about losing sight of the dog. Its glow would be just as visible through any number of objects or buildings as long as Riley stayed close enough. The dog turned off the street, cutting through an alley heading directly away from Riley.

Riley didn't think he saw anyone looking up.

With his best running start, Riley sprang from the edge of the roof and sailed over the street. He landed hard on the opposite roof and rolled into the impact, up on his feet and moving fast without a pause.

The dog had stopped, so Riley caught up easily. It seemed to be looking around, and when it didn't see anyone, it flared bright to Riley's sight. It wasn't a dog anymore. It was a man. A man Riley _recognized_.

_It's the supervillain from the warehouse!_ Riley thought. _He can shapeshift too? That is so unfair._

Seeing a known bad guy, Riley did what any superhero would do. He leaped off the roof and twisted around in the air, landing in a crouch behind the man to confront him. The man spun around very very quickly, pointing something long and glowing that Riley assumed was a weapon. Riley stuck out his hand and wove his tendrils of power around his arm, folding them into a shape in front of his hand that resembled a sattelite dish.

There was a slight shimmer in the air as the burst of raw force slammed into the dark-haired man and blasted him off his feet. Riley dashed forward before the man even hit the ground. He had to make sure the villain didn't teleport away and hoped the man required at least a moment's undisturbed concentration to do so.

Riley stumbled in shock, seeing the man point his whatever-it-was even as he skidded down the alley on his back. A jet of red light shot from the man's weapon straight at Riley, who only narrowly hauled himself out of the way in time. With the momentum from his dodge, Riley hit the alley wall sideways and jumped off, reversing direction and diving behind a dumpster. A second red bolt blasted a chunk out of the wall where Riley had been an instant before.

Riley's heart was pounding. It was thundering in his ears. The man from the warehouse was _fast_, and obviously more powerful than Riley, and it was too late to change his mind about fighting him. It would be nearly impossible to flee from a teleporter.

"Oh _crap_."

Pausing only for the space of a single deep breath, Riley wove the force blast again and sent the dumpster tumbling down the alley towards his enemy at high speed. Riley stayed low, which turned out to be a good idea when the dumpster exploded and the man emerged from the wreckage looking angry.

Then, miraculously, he faultered. "What the hell? A kid? Who the fu- "

Seizing the opportunity, Riley didn't give him a chance to finish and thrust both hands towards the man, dropping his protections so he could put all of his strength into it. The twin force blasts struck the man with all of Riley's power.

The man was blown completely off his feet, tumbling out of the alley and into traffic. Riley was running forward as soon as his enemy's feet left the ground. The man twisted in the air, already taking aim at Riley again. A spike of fear nearly stopped Riley in his tracks, but he knew the only way he was getting out of this was to press his advantage, if he could call it that.

Luck was on Riley's side again. The man was suddenly in the path of an on-coming double-decker bus and was forced to abort the shot he was about to take at Riley. The man twisted to the side, holding that glowing white weapon of his like a shield.

He and the bus collided with an almighty crunch. The metal of the upper deck folded around a glimmering shell of energy that sprang into being between the man and the bus. To Riley's amazement, he could see the tendrils of the man's power flowing from the weapon in an intricate pattern to support the shield.

It was only visible for a moment, which wasn't long enough for Riley to copy it, much to his disappointment. With the shield, the man bounced off the front of the bus unharmed and landed on the roof of a moving car. There was a screech of brakes as the bus and then the other drivers all reacted to the either the bus or the impact and screeched to a halt themselves.

Riley raced out of the alley, restoring his lightness and imperviousness. He leaped to the roof of the bus to get a better view and spotted the man picking himself up several car-lengths away. Riley dove off immediately, aiming for the villain. A couple of screams followed him as on-lookers saw him fly through the air.

The man's weapon flashed up and Riley was in mid-leap, unable to change course. He shouted something that sounded like "_Finite Incantatem!_" whatever that meant, but Riley gasped in horror as a faint wave of glowing power washed over him and he felt his protections snap and break.

Riley fell like a rock and hit the pavement hard. He heard a snap in his left wrist and cried out in pain. _That's not fair. So not fair. He's gonna kill me and it's not fair._

Hauling himself up, Riley restored his protections against gravity and small impacts, not sure what else to do. But then the man was _right there_ and Riley froze. That glowing white weapon was pointed right between Riley's eyes, less than an inch from his head.

"What the _hell_, kid?" the man said. "Who the fuck are you and why did you attack me? In front of muggles no less! What is your problem?"

They were standing in a small square of street where four cars had collided end-to-end and formed a ring. All of Riley's imagined speeches of defiance for starting down a villain flew out of his head and he just stood there staring at the weapon that was pointed at his head, shaking.

"D-d-don't," Riley forced the word out, "play dumb. I know what you are! And I caugh you stealing bombs before you teleported away! You have to be stopped!"

The look on the man's face was incredulous as he blinked a few times. _I won't beg. I won't beg. I won't beg. I can at least die like a hero._

Before the man could say or do anything, though, he and Riley were surrounded by several loud cracks. Just as quickly, the man vanished with a flare of power and a similar noise. Riley dropped to the ground, looking around frantically. He saw at least a dozen glowing people with shining weapons like the man from the warehouse had.

Riley was very nearly panicking, but he forced himself to close his eyes and shut everything else out so he could be sure where all of the reinforcements were. Once he'd located them all, he opened his eyes and fled.

He heard voices from the glowing people shouting something that sounded like "_Obliviate!_" and saw one using her weapon to send tendrils of power into the heads of the people on the street.

Tears flooded Riley's eyes as he ran and ran for all he was worth. He didn't look back.

* * *

Some time later - he wasn't sure how long - Riley cried himself out, hiding behind an air-conditioning unit on a random roof. He needed to get home. He needed to talk to Charlotte. She would be disappointed in him, but she was right to be, and she would know Riley knew that, so it didn't make him want to see her any less.

His left wrist still hurt a lot, and it was starting to swell up.

Wiping away the last of his tears and straightening his mask, Riley looked around to figure out where he was. He knew the place, but it looked different during the day. With a shakey deep breath to steady himself, Riley turned, brought his protections into place, and dove off the roof.

He went slowly, spending less time airborne than he normally would. There was no sign of the supervillains and Riley easily found the comic shop again. He landed on the roof and looked over the edge. Riley sighed with relief. Charlotte was chattering happily at the three adults and holding the issue of _Teen Titans_ they'd looked at together.

Then they turned and strolled off, leaving Riley behind. Of course, Riley could easily get around on his own, but his parents didn't know that. So why were they so blithely leaving without him? Riley followed them from rooftop to rooftop, but none of them ever looked back or asked where Riley was.

Riley was still trying to figure this out when they disappeared into the underground. Yes, they had just left without him. Why would they do that? Riley shivered.

Deciding to just pretend he'd called a cab - he had a bit of pocket money on him - Riley made his way home over the rooftops. Afterall, they had to explain why they'd left without him before he explained how he got home without their help.

* * *

Riley beat his parents and the Webbs home. He was waiting anxiously when he heard the garage open and the rumble of the car pulling in. His wrist was swollen purple now, but its pain was second to the churning worry he felt. Riley didn't know what had happened to his parents but _something_ must have.

It felt like ice had sunk into the pit of Riley's stomach when his parents came in and stopped dead as they saw him. Their faces were identical cold masks of bewilderment and wariness. Riley shivered. _Why_ were they looking at him like that?

"Who are you and what are you doing in our house?" his father asked sternly.

Riley gaped, feeling the tears coming again. "What are you talking about? Dad, it's me, Riley! You left me by myself in the comic shop just half an hour ago!"

His dad frowned suspiciously, but his mum touched Dad's arm and said, "Look, Greg, he's hurt."

Riley was backing away slowly now, fighting down sobs. "Mum, Dad, this isn't funny. Why are you acting like you don't know me?"

"Listen, Riley, was it?" his mum said kindly. "We're not your parents. We don't have any children. But if you need some help we'll hear you out."

Riley was shaking his head, vision blurring despite his best efforts. "No, no, no! I am your son! You love me! Why are you doing this?"

"Hey, it's okay, kid," his dad said. "Calm down. We'll get you some help. What's your last name?"

"Raye!" Riley screamed, now in tears. "You named me Riley Raymond Raye! Dad wanted my middle name to be Richard, but Mum, you said Raymond was more harmonious. I was born in march! Last year you took me to a comic convention for my birthday. Why are you _still looking at me like that_?"

He couldn't take it. He couldn't accept that his parents didn't know who he was. Riley turned and ran, sobbing and ignoring the outstreched arm of the woman who was pretending not to be his mother. He bolted into the backyard and leaped over the fence even though his parents would see him do it.

Riley crossed the way and hauled himself up the side of the apartment building where the Webbs lived, murmuring as he climbed. "Charly. Charly, please be there. I need you."

She was there and Riley sagged with relief, leaning his head on her window as tears streamed down his face. Charlotte looked up and Riley tried to smile, but before he could manage it, Charlotte screamed in fright and knocked her chair over as she stood up.

"Sorry, Charly," Riley called through the glass. "I didn't mean to startle you, but something's horribly wrong and I don't - I just needed to..."

Riley trailed off, feeling like the whole world was being pulled out from under him. There was no nervous giggle, no warm smile of greeting. Charlotte still looked scared. Riley felt his heart thundering in his ears again.

"Who're you?" Charlotte asked, each syllable like ice piercing his chest. "How'd you get up here?"

"It's me," he said weakly. "Riley."

"Um, I don't know anyone named Riley," Charlotte said. "Sorry."

Charlotte wouldn't joke like that. She was utterly guileless. It was one of the things Riley loved about her. Her words were always spoken with such perfect sincerity.

Riley wasn't aware of letting go of his handholds, nor did he particularly notice he was falling. His protections were in place through sheer force of habit, but Riley wasn't really aware of that either. The air rushed over him and when the back of his skull met pavement, Riley welcomed oblivion.

* * *

(**A/N:** Some reviewers have been saying that they don't like Riley. Sorry to disappoint those people but he's not dead. This was part of the plan all along, and I promise Riley's role will make perfect sense eventually. If I hadn't already figured out how to make the premise work, _I wouldn't be writing the story_. I know exactly how the story is going to end and all the major steps along the way; I knew that before I started writing the first chapter. So don't worry, Riley is in the story for a reason.)


	11. What Isn't Weakness

**~What Isn't Weakness~**

Ginny had no idea what the deal was with the boy who had attacked Sirius. She'd grilled him for details, but all she could figure was that the boy was a wizard and didn't know it. Ginny was sure that a muggleborn boy powerful enough to intentionally wield wandless magic at such a young age - not to mention so publicly - would not have passed without notice or rumor, at the very least.

However sure of this Ginny was, she couldn't fathom how her presence or actions could have possibly resulted in _that_ deviation from the original timeline. It was worrying. If something so seemingly random and unlikely was different, Ginny was afraid of what other changes she might not be anticipating.

That was a puzzle for another time, though. Tonight, Ginny had a very specific task before her, and _this_ was a problem she knew how to solve.

_Stupefy!_

Ginny's silent stunner caught the house-elf named Winky in the back of the head. The elf sprawled forward onto the Crouch's basement floor and did not move. Ginny crept towards the armchair in the center of the room as broken shadows rolled over her Disillusioned body.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" Ginny whispered, aiming her wand into the seemingly empty armchair.

There was a sharp intake of breath and the rustle of fabric as her target was paralyzed. Feeling a cold knot settle in her gut, Ginny flicked her wand and the invisibility cloak tore away. She walked in front of the chair and her grip on her wand tightened.

"Hello, Barty," Ginny said evenly. "Do you have any idea how much suffering you've caused? How much you were going to cause?"

Only the young man's eyes moved, focusing on Ginny's blurred outline and then darting around the room in a distinctly frantic manner. She leaned forward until she was mere inches from his face. Even with the Disillusionment Charm, her face would be easy to see that close.

"You are a plague on this world," Ginny hissed softly in his face, "but that's not why I'm here. I'm here because of only one man. A man I love. A man who's life you will endevor to destroy. I just wanted you to know, before you die, exactly what it was that ended you. It was that thing you call weakness. It was love."

Ginny whipped back and aimed her wand at Barty Crouch Jr.'s chest. "_Asta Ignis!_"

A spear of white flame shot from Ginny's wand and seared a hole through Barty's chest, destroying his left lung. His eyes bulged, but the Body-Bind kept the rest of him motionless, and also prevented him from going into shock. The flame spear cauterized the gaping wound, sealing off the severed blood vessels.

"_Asta Ignis!_" Ginny cried again, obliterating Barty's other lung. "_Finite Incantatem!_ _Adhaeresco!_"

Barty Crouch Jr. tried to scream as the Body-Bind was lifted, but without lungs to move air he couldn't made a sound. He thrashed in panic, but found himself fused to his chair and unable to rise as bits of blackened flesh fell from the twin charred voids in his chest.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Ginny jabbed her wand into the intact bit of chest over his heart and cast one more spell. "_Respiranguis!_"

It was a medical charm, meant to oxygenate the blood. Ginny had learned it during her sixth year after that Carrow bastard had used it to similar effect on her. She'd been forced to drown in a trough of water for a solid twenty minutes, unable to pass out, before Snape had shown up and sent her on her way, sneering like she'd suffered nothing worse than having to write lines. Her lungs were sore for weeks.

Ginny stood back and folded her arms, watching Barty Crouch Jr. panic with a queasy satisfaction. After the things he'd done and the things he would have done, even this grusome end was too good for him, but it was the worst Ginny could stomach. And she wanted him _scared_. She wanted him to _know_ he was dieing. She wanted him to stare his impending demise in the face and have plenty of time to despair.

It took six minutes for him to finally stop twitching.

After checking his pulse and finding it absent, Ginny turned away and strode out of the house. One more problem solved.

* * *

Someone was holding Riley's hand. The hand was bigger than his, with slender fingers and soft, slightly chapped skin. Riley kept his eyes closed, wishing he could convince himself it had all been a nightmare.

He knew better.

There was no delay between waking and remembering. He'd fallen from Charlotte's window, so upset that she didn't remember him, that he'd forgotten about holding onto his perch. He'd fallen and hit the ground, and now someone was holding his hand. It didn't feel like he was laying on the ground anymore, either.

Without really intending to, Riley turned his eyes beneath closed lids and saw the faint silouette of his mother sitting beside him, gently clasping his own brightly shining hand in her own. His eyes flew open.

"Mum?" he pleaded.

She nodded, and Riley let out a cry of relief. He lurched up to hug her. A wave of dizziness lanced through his head but Riley ignored it, cluching at his mother. But there was something off, still and Riley pulled back to look at her face. She looked like she was about to cry, and not in the good way.

"Mum? What is it?"

She sobbed softly. "Oh, I'm so so sorry, Riley. We - your father and I - we know you're our son now. It didn't take us very long to figure out. Your room... All the pictures in our house... We still don't - we still don't remember anything about you, Riley, but we know you're ours."

"You - do you," Riley gulped. "You still love me, right?"

"Of course we do."

"Oh okay, then," Riley sniffed.

"You're a brave boy," his mother said.

"I thought so too. But I'm really not," Riley said mildly. "This is my fault. I should have stayed and protected you, but I ran away instead. I'm a coward."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't need to remember to know that it's a mother's job to protect her kid, not the other way around," she said, squeezing his hand.

Looking around, Riley noticed for the first time where they were. It looked like a hospital room. He reached up with his free hand and felt bandages wrapped around his head. Apparently he had hit the pavement pretty hard.

The door opened and his dad walked in. He gave Riley an awkward sort of smile.

"It's okay, Dad," Riley said. "Mum already explained."

Riley's dad came over and sat down next to his mum and said, "They've scheduled us both for MRIs tomorrow. The doctors say we should at least know what kind of amnesia we've got, and hopefully what caused it. If there's a way, we'll get our memories back, Riley, I promise."

"I know what caused it," Riley said quietly. "You don't have amnesia. Your memories were _erased_. It's the only explanation."

His parents shared a look and his dad said, "That's impossible, son. No one can do that."

"Sometimes terrible things just happen," his mother said soothingly. "No ryme or reason to it."

Riley shook his head. "No, I'm sure of this. I got in a fight with one of them, and they came and erased the memories of everybody on that street so _no one would know something strange happened_. You must have seen me. You must have seen me using my powers. They couldn't know you were my parents, or they would have hurt you, but since they didn't know, they just _erased me from your minds_ just like they did to everybody else!"

Only now working this out as he said it, Riley felt a wave of hopelessness crashing down on him. If his enemies had that kind of power, they could get away with _anything_, and he had no way to stop them. In a moment of striken fear, Riley wondered if his own mind had ever been wiped. Was there a way to tell?

Riley's mother gave his father a concerned look. "Greg, he's not making any sense. Do you think he hit his head harder than they told us?"

"I'll go ask," his father said, getting up and heading for the door.

Sighing, Riley raised his hand towards the door and wove the parabolic dish shape. The door to the hallway slammed shut just as his dad was reaching for the handle. Sturdy wook creaked in its frame as Riley's dad stared at the door like it was trying to play a trick on him. He grabbed the handle and pulled, then he pulled harder, and harder, finally putting his foot up against the wall. The whole time he had a disbelieving expression on his face. The door opened about an inch before Riley's dad's muscles gave out and it snapped shut again.

"Dad," Riley said. "If I'm holding the door shut from way over here, then obviously my powers aren't made up. And if my powers are real, the bad people having powers makes sense too, doesn't it?"

His dad turned around, staring in shock at Riley's outstretched arm. His mum looked scared.

"Riley?" his mum asked. "Did we know about this, before we... lost our memories?"

Riley shook his head. "No, and I'm sorry about that. I wanted to tell you, but the comic books are always saying that it's safer for people if they don't know. Charly was the only one who - "

He choked, feeling his eyes fill with tears as his mum reached for him with comforting arms and asked, "Charly?"

"My best friend," Riley sobbed. "She knew about my powers, but now - oh god, Charly - they erased her too, and she'll never remember me now. I don't have a best friend anymore."

"Oh! You mean the Webb girl," his dad murmured. "No wonder I remember her being around so much."

Riley swallowed his sobs. "Mum? Dad? Listen, the people who made you forget me, they're real, and they might come after us. We have to run away. Go somewhere they can't follow us."

* * *

In the end, Riley had convinced them. It took a long time, and he had to demonstrate his powers for his parents several more times, but they finally agreed. His mum checked them out of the hospital while his dad emptied their bank accounts into cash.

The next morning, they packed up the car while Riley snuck across the way to say goodbye to Charlotte. He didn't let her see him. She wouldn't care if he said goodbye or not, because to her he was a stranger. But she had been Riley's best friend, and the only _good_ friend he'd ever had. Not saying goodbye seemed tantamount to a betrayal.

So he perched and watched her and whispered, "Goodbye, Charly," to the empty air between him and the window as tears slid down his cheeks.

* * *

With a nervous sigh, Harry raised his fist to knock on the large oaken door, but it swung open before his knuckles could land on the wood. "Ah, Harry. Do come in."

Harry obeyed and entered what may very well have been the most interesting room in the world. In the center of everything, the Headmaster sat behind a large ornate desk and beckoned Harry inside. Harry spared a moment to awe at all the shelves and portraits and whirring silver devices.

"Uh, er, you wanted to seem me, sir?" Harry said, approaching the desk.

"Indeed, Harry. Have a seat. Lemon Drop?" Dumbledore asked genially.

Harry took one of the yellow candies and turned it over in his fingers. "Thank you, sir."

"Well, Harry," Dumbledore said, gazing over his spectacles at Harry. "I imagine you deserve a chance to inquire about certain of Halloween night's most unusual events."

"Oh," Harry said. "Er, yes actually. There is something I'd like to know about."

Dumbledore looked at him expectantly.

"That thing that came out of Quirrel, that really was Voldemort?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Does that mean he, er, got away?" Harry asked. "I mean, he's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he?"

"Sadly, you are correct, Harry," Dumbledor said. "He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share. Voldemort is not truly alive, so he cannot be truly killed. Yet his return to power has been delayed, and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

"Sir, there's something else..."

"Yes, Harry?"

"When I jumped in front of that spell - the green one - that was going to hit Hermione, how did it not hurt me?" Harry asked. "Hermione looked it up and told me what that spell was. It's supposed to be unblockable, and kill - kill instantly. And... it's what Voldemort used to kill my parents, isn't it?"

"Indeed so, Harry," Dumbledore said. "In fact, I find it very intriguing that your recent act of heroism did not earn you a second scar to match the one you're famous for. It has settled a question I have been dwelling on for quite some time. The Killing Curse never leaves a mark, you see."

"But, if my scar didn't come from the curse," Harry said slowly, "how did I get it? Why did it hurt while Voldemort was nearby?"

"Ah, for that I can offer only guesses, and I shall not burden you with an old man's guesswork," Dumbledore said.

"Do you know why I survived at all, sir?" Harry asked. "Either time?"

Dumbledore smiled gently. "Indeed. Your mother died to save you. There is magic, Harry, in things much deeper than wands and spells. Sometimes even the simplest acts can be magical in ways we may never understand. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark."

Harry's hand went unconsciously to his forehead.

"No, Harry, this sort of mark cannot be seen," Dumbledore said. "To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. Quirrell, who shared his soul with Voldemort, to whom your mother gave her life in exchange for yours, could not harm you. The magic of your mother's love - your mother's sacrifice - lives on in your very skin. Voldemort's evil couldn't exist in the presence of something so strong and pure, that also directly opposed him specifically."

Dumbledore abruptly became very busy rummaging in a drawer, which gave Harry time to dry his eyes on his sleeve. Harry felt warm. Harry had been told that his parents loved him, but hearing about it from Hagrid was nothing compared to having real enduring tangible proof that he had been loved, _living on in my very skin,_ as Dumbledore put it.

As Harry smiled, Dumbledore emerged from his drawer holding a small wrapped package.

"What's that, sir?"

"This, Harry, belonged to your father, who lent it to me shortly before he died," Dumbledore said, placing the package on the desk between him and Harry with a twinkle in his eyes. "I was going to wait and return it to you for christmas, but given recent events, I feel you should have it now. I daresay you'll put it to good use."

Harry took the package with reverence, pulling it open carefully. The wrapping came away, and silver cloth spilled into Harry's hands, flowing like water over his skin and rippling in the light of Dumbledore's office.

"It's a cloak," Harry realized.

Dumbledore only smiled pleasantly. Harry noticed a mirror on the wall that he was sure hadn't been there a moment ago. He swung the cloak around his shoulders and gasped when he looked in the mirror.

"Your father's invisibility cloak," Dumbledore said. "A Potter heirloom that protects and conceals the wearer from all detection - the sort of thing one can't simply buy in a shop."

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, still in awe.

"Now, Harry, I am not so foolish that I will ask for your promise to never use your cloak to get into mischief," Dumbledore chuckled. "Your father certainly got into his share of it."

Harry grinned, slipping the cloak off and folding it up. "I promise I'll use it honorably, sir."

"Alas, that shall suffice," Dumbledore said. "I will also trust you to be discreet about your ownership of such a rare artifact."

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir. I will."

"Well then, I daresay I've taken up enough of your afternoon. I'm sure you'd like to be visiting the young Mr. Weasley. Do take care, Harry."


	12. Higher Mischief

**~Higher Mischief~**

Ginny sat under her favorite tree in the secluded clearing behind the Burrow with her coat drawn tight against the cold. She was pouring over a detailed map of Malfoy Manor that she and Sirius had painstakingly assembled over the last month. They'd spent most of november brewing Polyjuice Potion - with Sirius footing the bill - which they'd then used primarily to disguise their own identities, rather than impersonate anyone in particular. So disguised, they were able to gain entry to Malfoy Manor a total of four times. Sirius was remarkably good at engineering plausible excuses, but they didn't want to push their luck.

Even so, they had several useful bits of information.

The location of the diary was marked on the map. It was under the drawing room floor, as Ginny had expected. She knew this. Each time she'd walked through that room she'd _felt_ the diary. It was a feeling she'd never forget. So she didn't have to guess on that issue.

There were notations at various places on the map, including the drawing room, marking the locations of wards and alarm spells that Ginny and Sirius had detected. Scribbles and comments filled the margins, identifying the specific spells behind some of those wards and alarms, and listing times and days when each Malfoy was routinely home or not home.

Sirius' attempts to get their map to show people's names in real-time like the Marauder's Map was an utter failure without Remus there to do the delicate arithmantic work. He _was_ able to recreate the enchantment that made the map blank out and redraw itself on command, however.

What they _didn't_ know, was the passphrase to the wards on the diary's hiding place. Breaking through them was an option, of course, but Ginny really didn't want to alert the Malfoys that the diary was missing unless there was no other way. No matter how satisfying it would be to throw an Aetheric Void Curse through the Malfoy's front door.

Ginny blanked the map and folded it up, thinking instead of problems unrelated to the Manor's floorplan. She'd nearly memorized the layout of Malfoy Manor by this point. Pushing herself up, Ginny went over to where Sirius was assembling the finished package that they were going to send into the Lestrange's vault.

"Right," Ginny said. "How are you at memory charms?"

Sirius glanced up. "Pretty rubbish."

"Great," Ginny sighed. "I don't suppose you've come up with any more ideas for getting the passphrase, other than beating it out of Lucius."

"We could try another scouting trip," Sirius suggested. "They still might have it written down somewhere we haven't had a chance to snoop."

Ginny shook her head. "I doubt it, but I'm out of ideas. I think we need to figure out the exact spells in that ward after all, and see if that turns up a weakness."

"Great, more _research_," Sirius grumbled. "This was more fun when we were blowing stuff up."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Sirius?"

"Hmm?"

"You're building a bomb."

Sirius blinked at the package and started melodramatically. "Oh! Yes. Well, that's alright then."

"Right," Ginny laughed as Sirius grinned cheekily.

"So, have you decided what you're going to say to Fred and George yet?" Sirius asked.

Ginny let out a sharp sigh. "I'm going to tell them."

"Everything?" Sirius asked, looking up from his work.

"The important bits, anyway," Ginny said.

She plopped down in the grass, kicking up a bit of dust that blew into Sirius' workspace and diverted sharply when it hit the minor Wind Ward he'd set up to keep the project clean. Ginny flopped back onto the ground and stared up at the clouds without really seeing them.

"Are you sure you don't want to let Harry in on the secret?" Sirius asked.

"No. I'm quite sure I _want_ to tell Harry everything," Ginny said, "but I can't. Not yet."

"Why not?" Sirius asked. "From what you've told me, it sounds like he could handle it."

"I'm sure he could," Ginny said quietly. "I'm just worried that knowing will change him. He barely even knows my family yet, let alone all the other people he cared about last time. Even at this age, Harry doesn't like having things decided for him. What if knowing that future sours his feelings towards the people he would have come to love?"

"Do you really think that's likely?" Sirius asked with a bit of wryness.

"I don't mean that he'll turn away from those people," Ginny said. "That's not Harry. I'm worried that he'll feel obligated to live up to the commitments of the Harry I remember. I'm worried that he'll resent _me_ for never getting to reach those choices by himself. Also..."

"Also?" Sirius prompted after a short silence.

Ginny's eyes went distant. "I know Harry very well. Better than anybody. But he doesn't know me anymore. Not yet, not after just a handful of letters and short conversations. It's not only that it wouldn't be fair to him to tell him he was in love with me before he feels that way on his own. I don't think it's fair to me, either. Maybe it's selfish of me, but I don't want to have to wonder."

"You could leave the part about your relationship out, when you tell him," Sirius suggested.

Ginny felt a wry smirk steal onto her face. "I think he would probably get suspicious, once I start snogging him."

Sirius barked a laugh.

"I'll think about this later," Ginny decided. "After the horcruxes are gone and I can be the age I am instead of the age I used to be."

Through the trees in the direction of the Burrow, Ginny heard the faint sounds of a car engine and tires on dirt. She sat up as Sirius looked around.

"That them?" Sirius asked.

"I'd say so," Ginny said, standing up and brushing herself off. "So, you ready to meet Harry?"

"Yeah," Sirius said quietly.

"Even if we can't get you cleared, telling Harry who you really are will be the first thing I do when I let him in on the secret," Ginny promised.

Sirius made an awkward manly noise. "Thanks, Ginny."

He finished packing away the nearly-completed timebomb and warded its hiding place. As soon as the package was secure, Sirius transformed and trotted at Ginny's side as she hurried out of the trees.

Down by the garage, several Weasleys and a Potter were piling out of the enchanted Ford Anglia. Ginny spotted Harry looking up at the Burrow with a big smile on his face. Ron was standing next to him, scratching the back of his head and looking nervous, while Ginny's dad was helping the twins unload the trunk.

"It's not much," Ron said as Ginny loped up behind them.

Harry turned to Ron with a grin. "It's _wonderful_."

With a happy giggle, Ginny launched herself onto Ron's back. Her brother let out a shriek of surprise and toppled forward, crashing to the ground. Ginny hugged his shoulders and laughed.

"What the bleedin' - get it off! Ginny? Get off me! Cut it out, you barmy loon," Ron protested.

"Oh fine," Ginny said, leaving Ron to pick himself up as she turned to Harry.

Harry was grinning shamelessly at the scene. "Hi, Ginny."

"Hey, Harry," Ginny said, bouncing up and giving him a much less violent hug. Harry was quicker about returning it this time. Still awkward, but much less uncertain. Ginny beamed and grabbed his hands as she pulled back, swinging them between them.

"Oy, barmy girl," Ron grumbled as he dusted himself off.

"_Woof!_"

"Oh. Is this the dog you wrote about?" Harry asked. "He fits your description alright."

Ginny nodded. "Yeah! This is him. Harry, meet Padfoot."

There was a clatter of dropped luggage as Fred and George's heads snapped around faster than a snitch in flight. Sirius barked happily and reared up, licking the side of Harry's head. Harry stumbled under Sirius' weight, grinning - the way Harry sometimes did instead of laughing - as he scratched the black dog's head, and didn't notice Fred and George's suspicious stares.

The twins exchanged a series of meaningful looks that flickered so quickly that Ginny couldn't have followed the silent conversation if she'd tried, even though she already knew what it was about. Ginny hid a grin.

Ginny's dad set everybody's trunks floating towards the house, and Ginny placed herself firmly between Harry and Ron, slinging an arm over each of their shoulders. It was slightly more awkward than expected, since Ron was so tall, but that gave her a perfectly natural excuse to let go of Ron and just hold on to Harry.

"So, Harry," Ginny said with a bit of a teasing grin, ignoring Ron's Annoyed-Brother Face. "Did you really swallow a Snitch?"

* * *

Life at the Burrow was as different as possible from life on Pivet Drive. The Dursleys liked everything neat and ordered; the Weasleys' house burst with the strange and unexpected. What Harry found most unusual about life at the Burrow, however, wasn't the talking mirrors or the constant explosions coming from Fred and George's room. It was the fact that everybody there seemed to like him.

Ron's room was an outrageous riot of orange from all the Chudley Cannons posters he had stuck to the walls, where the frequent clanking and clattering of the attic ghoul could be heard through the celling. Mrs. Weasley fussed over the state of Harry's socks and tried to give him fourth helpings at every meal. Mr. Weasley was fascinated by Harry's knowledge of muggle life and liked to have Harry sit next to him at the dinner table so he could quiz Harry on the workings of things like telephones.

The christmas decorations were pervasive and charmingly haphazard. Ron and Ginny showed him the handmade ornaments crafted by each member of the family that were hung on the christmas tree.

Meeting Charlie was fun. He turned out to be a stocky, mellow boy with a lot of scars on his arms who very much resembled Mrs. Weasley in his face, if not his temperment. He had a lot of stories about Gryffindor quidditch matches that Ron had heard before but Harry listened to eagerly. Ginny listened with him, even though she'd also heard most of the stories before. It didn't take long for her to talk Harry into agreeing to a friendly Seeker competition with Charlie, to be held as soon as the weather allowed.

Ginny did this persuading with her arms around Harry's middle and her chin on his shoulder as she listened from behind him. Ginny hugged him rather a lot. Harry minded this less than he might have, as Ginny never really gave him a chance to feel uncomfortable. She'd just put her arms around him or lean on him whenever the opportunity arose, natural as breathing, and Harry rather liked it, from her.

It was just _easy_ to fall into friendship with Ginny. He liked being around her in person even more than he'd liked reading her letters. She was tougher than _he_ was, hilariously snarky when provoked, and sometimes got this blazing look in her eyes that made Harry feel several different good feelings that he couldn't even put a name to. Ginny understood him really well, too. Even when he stumbled over his words or wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to say in the first place, Ginny always knew what he meant.

Harry didn't dare think the thought in his mind yet, but he felt it in his heart. He was home.

* * *

Ginny was fully alert the instant she registered the faint creak and scuff of movement in the darkness of her room at the same instant that a hand covered her mouth. Movement. Two sources of breathing. Adrenaline electrified Ginny's nerves and she was acting before there had been any time to think.

With a sudden yank, Ginny pulled the first attacker down while her other hand gripped the bedspread and whipped it up and over his head. She twisted her lower body out from the covers and threw herself to the floor while the first attacker let out a muffled shout of surprise and fell onto the bed with his head wrapped in blankets.

Ginny lunged for the second attacker, turning and springing upwards as soon as her fingertips touched cloth. There was a satisfying crack as the top of her head collided with something that was probably his nose. He reeled back and Ginny dove for the hiding place where she kept her redwood wand. Behind her mirror. In her room. At the Burrow. Six years ago.

"Oh fucking hell," Ginny grumbled, coming to an abrupt halt as George crashed to the ground with a broken nose and Fred emerged from her blankets looking dazed.

"What in Merlin's pockets just happened?" Fred wondered.

Grabbing her wand with a sigh, Ginny went to help George up. "Sorry guys, you startled me."

"Startled?" Fred repeated. "Startled, she says."

"I tink by dose is broken," George noted, sounding incredulous with one hand over his face.

Ginny pulled her brother's bloodied hand away from his face and muttered a quiet, "_Episkey!_"

George yelped as his nose cracked back into place. Fred found a towel somewhere that he passed off to his brother before facing down Ginny. She held back a bout of snickering. Fred would be mortified if he knew just how much he resembled their mother in that moment.

"This is so going on the list, you know," Fred said, eyeing Ginny's wand.

"List?" Ginny asked.

"Of things you had damn well better explain before me and my slightly uglied brother here lose our bloody minds trying to figure it out ourselves!" Fred exclaimed.

"Shh!" Ginny hissed. "I won't have much of a chance to explain anything tonight if you wake Mum."

"Right," George said more quietly. "But really, Ginny, what is going on with you? What were you doing at Hogwarts that day? We saw you _disapparate_! How did you do that?"

"Where did you even get that wand?" Fred added.

Ginny held up her hands. "Alright. Alright. This is a really long story and you'd never believe half of it if I just told you. Get dressed and I'll meet you out back in a minute. We need to go somewhere."

Fred and George exchanged dubious looks, but both nodded after a moments consideration. They left to find their shoes and Ginny took a deep breath to clear her head and ease the tension in her chest. She was about to tell her brothers that she was from the future. There was simply no way that wouldn't go wrong somehow, but she'd decided to do it anyway, and hope to Merlin they didn't know Sirius Black's face.

Ginny found her clothes and changed out of her pajamas. Dressed, she slipped out of her room and down the stairs.

At one point she had thought to simply introduce the twins to Padfoot and blame everything strange on his presence, leaving the time-travel out of it. Sirius had liked that plan at first. However, Ginny figured that the twins might buy that explanation when she first gave it, but it wouldn't take them long to notice holes in the story.

Slipping out the kitchen door, Ginny pointed her wand and thought of Harry the second time he'd kissed her. "_Expecto Patronum!_"

"It's time to explain things to the twins," Ginny said _to Sirius_ as the moonlight stag flared into being. "Meet us in the clearing."

The patronus turned and shot away, seeking Sirius. Ginny blinked her eyes a few times, refocusing on her immediate surroundings. She waited in the peaceful silence for Fred and George, feeling oddly sanguine about the impending revelation.

The kitchen door creaked open and Ginny turned to wave Fred and George towards her. "Come on. It's this way."

Ginny led them quickly and quietly to the treeline, where she silently lit her wand. She caught the expressions on Fred and George's faces as she led them into the trees and had to stifle a snigger. It really was driving them mad, trying to figure out how she knew so much magic already.

When they arrived in the clearing, Sirius was already waiting for them. Ginny took one look at him, came to a full stop, and cracked up. He was reclining in a patchwork armchair in the center of the meadow, with a full tea set levitating in front of him. The head of a stuffed cat floated over his shoulder, slowly rolling over and over. And Merlin only knew where he'd found the massive lime-green purple-feathered top hat he was wearing.

Fred and George emerged behind her, and Ginny's laughter redoubled. She had never seen either of them that flummoxed.

"Fred?" George called.

"Yeah, George?" Fred replied.

"Did we go mad and fall asleep?" George asked.

"Not yet," Fred said.

"Just checking," George said.

Ginny got her snickering under control and said, "Fred. George. May I present the one and only, Mr. Padfoot, Marauder extraordinare?"

Sirius leaped to his feet and took a bow. "Well met, Weasleys Fred and George, wielders of the Map, heirs of mischief, apprentices of pranking, soldiers of humor! On this morn, at this ungodly hour, your epic quest for your little sister's secrets ends, here in this sacred sanctum of we who kick destiny in the balls! Assuming of course, that destiny has balls. I was never entirely clear on that."

Fred and George stared at each other. They stared at Sirius. They stared at Ginny. They stared at Sirius again, and then they stared at each other again. Ginny had to bite down on a knuckle to keep from laughing out loud.

"Padfoot?"

"As in, Padfoot?"

"As in, _Padfoot_?"

There was silence in the clearing as the twins gaped, Ginny cluched her sides, and Sirius posed in his extremely ridiculous hat.

* * *

Once the props of his melodramatic introduction were vanished and Ginny had promised somewhat breathlessly that the man before the twins really was the Padfoot of the Marauder's Map, the four of them sat themselves under Ginny's favorite tree. Fred and George got over their shock quickly and pressed Sirius with more questions about the map until they were fully satisfied that he was who he claimed to be.

"You can not breathe a _word_ about meeting me to _anyone_, boys," Sirius said seriously. "I'm proud that you're carring on the Marauder legacy, and doing a fine job of it from what I hear, but there are things you simply cannot know yet. My real name, for example."

Fred closed his mouth abruptly and Ginny was sure that was exactly what her brother had been planning to ask next. It was clear that Fred and George's idol-worship was at war with their curiosity.

"Right then," George said. "How did Ginny meet you?"

"Well," Sirius began, pausing and looking towards Ginny. "They just had to start with a hard one, didn't they?"

"It's a talent of theirs," Ginny said airily.

"Perhaps we should start at the start? Begin at the beginning?" Sirius asked.

"Ah, but which beginning Mr. Padfoot?" Ginny replied. "We have two to choose from."

"Indeed we do, Ms. Flamefeather," Sirius said.

"Wait, 'Flamefeather'? I thought we settled on 'Rakefire'."

"Can't settle on a name until you know your form and my galleons are still on something with feathers," Sirius said with a officious nod.

"You, of course, didn't mention the other reason," Ginny said.

"Other reason?" Sirius asked, feigning confusion.

"Why yes Mr. Padfoot," Ginny said. "Namely that if Fred and George's ickle sister earns a Marauder name before they do, they're likely to stroke out."

"A fair point, but an inevitable risk, Ms. Flamefeather," Sirius said. "You have unquestionably achieved a higher mischief. Never have the original four gone so far as to prank _fate herself_! Fred and George here have quite a lot of catching up to do."

"Her? I thought we were kicking fate in the balls," Ginny said.

Sirius waggled a finger. "Oh no, that's Destiny. He's the bastard who shags Fate and knocks her up with prophecies, remember?"

"I think your metaphor took the Knight Bus to stonehenge," Ginny asserted with a completely straight face.

Meanwhile, Fred and George were watching this exchange with increasing incredulity. "Wait!"

Ginny and Sirius pretended to be startled by the stereo shout and turned to the twins, blinking as if they'd forgotten the Weasley boys were there.

"Firstly, that was smashing," Fred said.

"Masterful. Even inspiring," George added.

"But how exactly is Ginny supposed to have pranked fate?" Fred asked.

Ginny smiled genuinely. "Good, you caught that, did you? Well, it was actually an accident. Completely unintentional."

"Alright then, "Fred said, sounding a bit strained. "How did you _accidently_ prank fate?"

"Time travel," Ginny said.

Fred and George exchanged a look. "Come again?"

"I'm from the future," Ginny said. "Came back seven years and arrived last fall."

Ginny watched as her brothers started to laugh, but cut themselves off and turned to stare at each other, faces slowly going pale. The twins were always clever, and now their minds must be putting the clues together and producing the inescapable conclusion that Ginny wasn't having them on.

"Never guessed..."

"...but its the only way..."

"...knows how to apparate..."

"... and the secret passage..."

"...how else could she know..."

Fred and George looked around at Ginny, and Fred asked, "In your future, what did we do after Hogwarts?"

Ginny smiled widely. "Weasley Wizard Wheezes, Number 93 Diagon Alley, and more competition than Zonko's could handle. By the way, never under any circumstances entrust money to Ludo Bagman."

"Er," George said.

Fred turned to his brother. "It would appear our little sister is from the future."

George blinked and then grinned. "Indeed so, brother of mine. And I'll admit - "

" - I did not see that one coming."

"So, boys, does this meet your standards for one hell of a story?" Ginny asked innocently.

* * *

"Ginny knew me the first time around," Sirius explained. "So when she got here, she came and found me and told me what was going on."

"What _is_ going on?" Fred asked.

"We're trying to make sure Voldemort never gets the chance to return that he got last time," Ginny said, ignoring the twin's flinch.

"You mean You-Know-Who - "

" - is going to come back?"

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Ginny growled.

Sirius looked from one twin to the other. "That's what this is about though. Ending Voldemort. Preventing the war that Ginny remembers from ever happening."

Fred and George exchanged uncharacteristically grim looks. "Right then. How can we help?"

A sudden grin appeared on Ginny's face. "Well, right now, we're trying to figure out how to rob Lucius Malfoy."

"A worthy cause, that," Fred said.

"Nearly worth doing for its own sake," George added.

"But what exactly are we after?" Fred asked.

"A dark artifact, key in Voldemort's survival," Ginny said. "We need to get it and destroy it without Lucius ever knowing its gone."

"Is that what you were doing at Hogwarts?" George wondered. "Wait a minute..."

George stared at Fred, then Fred stared at Ginny with the strangest look on his face. "It was _you_! The big to do with the hole blasted in the castle!"

"That has something to do with you coming back, doesn't it?" George asked eagerly.

"Well, yeah," Ginny admitted. "There _used_ to be a room there called the Room of Requirement. I'm almost entirely sure _it_ was what sent me back in time, but apparently it, well, exploded when I arrived."

"Wicked!" Fred and George chorused, grinning madly.

Ginny rolled her eyes, smirking. "It was actually a good thing, because it was also where another artifact like the one we need to steal was hidden. Only I didn't _know_ about the explosion until I went there the day you saw me. That was embarassing."

"Anyway, getting back to heisting the Malfoys. The good news," Sirius said, "is Lucius doesn't know what his artifact is, so we can create a physical duplicate and he'd never know the difference. Ginny, the map?"

Ginny turned and reached down into the hollow in the tree's roots that they used as a hiding spot and pulled out the roll of parchment. Fred and George eyed it curiously as Ginny tapped it with her wand and said, "_It's not full of stars._"

"Bloody - is that another Marauder's Map?" George asked as lines and writing drew themselves on the parchment.

"Not exactly," Ginny said. "It blanks and redraws like the Marauder's Map but it doesn't do anything else."

"Why doesn't it?" Fred wondered.

"Because I'm rubbish at arithmancy," Sirius said, making the twins chortle.

"Right then," Ginny said, spreading the map out between the four of them. "We know where the artifact is, and we know how to get to it. It's here, in a compartment under the drawing room, protected by relatively simple locking wards."

"The problem is, we don't know the passphrase," Sirius said. "Given time to work, I could break the wards down, but then I'd have to build them back up so Lucius doesn't notice anything is amiss, and I can't do that without the passphrase, either."

"Sounds like the classic conundrum," George said.

"Pulling the prank is easy," Fred said. "Not getting caught is the hard part."

Ginny nodded. "Exactly. Only in this case we need to do more than not get caught. We have to hide the crime itself."

"And to do that, we have to get through these wards without leaving them noticably disrupted," Sirius finished.

Fred and George got thoughtful looks on their faces. Ginny watched them work the problem, occasionally muttering to each other as they scanned the map and read Sirius and Ginny's notations. Including the twins had gone far better than Ginny had expected it to. They'd believed her right away, and weren't pressing for details that Ginny couldn't safely tell them yet. She probably should have been less surprised. If anyone could be told that their little sister had come back from the future to prevent a war, without batting an eyelash, it would be those two.

"What if..."

"...risky, but..."

"...at least take a while..."

The twins looked up at Sirius and Ginny and Fred asked, "How likely do you think Lucius is to test the locking wards, using the wrong passphrase on purpose?"

"I don't know. It doesn't sound like something he'd make a habit of. Why?" Sirius replied as Ginny's eyes widened.

"What if you tore down the wards, took the artifact, then rebuilt them to open to _any_ phrase?" George asked.

"According to your notes, the wards require a wand-contact, so chances are slim they'd be opened by accident if you did that," Fred added.

Ginny jumped up. "And unless he already suspected something was wrong, Lucius would never know the difference! Fred, George, that's brilliant!"

"That could work," Sirius said thoughtfully. "The phrase-lock component of the spell has the same structure either way. Yes it'll work! Boys, well done. We've been puzzling over this for _weeks_."

"Our pleasure," Fred and George chorused with identical smug grins.

* * *

After extracting more promises from Fred and George that they'd stay quiet about what they'd learned, Ginny promised she'd tell them more when it was safe and sent them ahead back to the Burrow. She let out a laugh and spun around, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of her.

"Those two are a force of nature," Ginny chortled. "Why didn't we think of omnicoding the wards, ourselves?"

"Same reason Lucius won't think to check them," Sirius said with a smirk as he put away the map of Malfoy Manor.

"Want to go dog and come in?" Ginny asked, gesturing in the general direction of the Burrow. "You should come in. When's the last time you got to spend christmas morning with Harry?"

"He wasn't even a year old," Sirius said wistfully. "But I've got an erand to run first."

Ginny quirked an eyebrow. "What sort of erand?"

Sirius merely gave Ginny a mysterious smile. He winked, and with low crack, disapparated. Wondering what Sirius was up to, Ginny jogged from the clearing and snuck back into the Burrow.

* * *

"Oy! Ginny! Wake up! Presents! Everyone's waiting!" Ron called loudly, pounding on Ginny's door.

"Urg," Ginny replied, blinking and yawning.

She stretched her arms over her head and let them fall limp, taking a moment to stare quietly at the celling of her room as a small smile tugged at her lips. They had a _plan_ now. The diary wasn't a big question mark hanging over Ginny like a cloud of doom anymore. Fred and George had taken everything in stride and would no longer be constantly trying to wheedle the secret out of her. Best of all, Harry was starting to smile whenever Ginny touched him, and when he talked to her he was holding back his thoughts less and less.

It was a wonderful feeling, having Harry begin to open up to her all over again.

Throwing the covers off, Ginny slid out of bed and changed out of her pajamas. She paused for a moment over her wand, but decided to leave it where it was since there was a higher risk than usual of being caught with it in the course of the day's activities. Still smiling to herself, Ginny left her room and went downstairs.

The funniest part about how she was behaving towards Harry, was how similar it was to the way she'd responded to his attempt to protect her by breaking up with her at the end of her fifth year. Namely, she let him say they were broken up all he wanted, and just kept being his girlfriend anyway. It was ironic how it was also such an effective tactic for _founding_ a relationship with Harry.

Even more unexpected, was how well it was working on her _family_. She'd had to quickly interupt Ron or the twins or Bill or her mother with a change of subject a few times in the first few days after Harry arrived, when they were about to comment on how affectionate Ginny was being with Harry and potentially embarass him. Yet, simply acting like she wasn't doing anything unusual and pretending not to notice when someone tried to point it out had nearly stopped all the protest before it could start, and kept Harry from feeling awkward about it.

Ginny leaped down the final few stairs just as her mum was coming out of the kitchen bearing a platter of delicious-smelling pine-tree-shaped cookies. Fred and George were in the middle of a swordfight with empty wrapping-paper tubes. Ron and Bill were cheering them on and arguing over which twin was which by turns when Molly cut the contest short.

"Boys!" Molly scolded with amused exasperation.

Charlie got up from where he was sitting in an armchair to clear a space for the platter of cookies, which Ron helped himself to immediately. Ginny spotted her dad seated by the tree, ready to start distributing presents. Sirius was there in dog form after all, curled up by the sofa at Harry's feet. Cookie in hand, Ron flopped down on the sofa next to Harry, who looked up and smiled in greeting at Ginny as she came in.

"We didn't break anything!" Fred and George chorused, putting on innocent faces and attempting to hide the cardboard tubes behind their backs, which failed entirely since the tubes were long enough to stick up over their shoulders. Everyone laughed a bit at that.

Ginny went over to the sofa and sat down next to Harry so their thighs were touching. Shooting Sirius a slight smirk, Ginny reclined and propped her feet up on Sirius' furry black back. He made an annoyed noise and lifted his head to give Ginny a doggy glare. Ginny snickered and Harry let out a short chuckle, grinning and ruffling Sirius' ears.

"So can we start opening presents now?" Ron asked.

Ginny's mum nodded and her dad prompted, "Everyone ready?"

There were affirmitive noises all around, so Arthur flicked his wand at the presents and started gently banishing them off into eager hands. Ginny caught a small evelope that she was surprised to see was from Harry.

"Happy Christmas, Ginny," Harry said.

Everyone tore into their presents as Ginny smiled and bumped her head on Harry's shoulder. "You too, Harry. Who's that from?"

Harry pulled open the small brown package, revealing a a small card and a rough wooden flute. "It's from Hagrid. Looks like he made it himself."

Lifting the flute like it was a precious thing, Harry blew a few notes before setting the flute aside with a smile. Ginny tore open the envelope she was holding and shook out what turned out to be a pristine Valmai Morgan Chocolate Frog Card. Valmai Morgan, lead Chaser of the Holyhead Harpies and Ginny's all-time favorite Quidditch player. This was actually the first year that Card was ever printed, if Ginny recalled correctly, so it was quite rare.

"I got it on the train ride," Harry explained. "And I figured you'd like to have one without having to eat your way through a hundred Chocolate Frogs first."

Ginny laughed and gave Harry's arm a squeeze. "Thanks, Harry. I can't believe you remembered about her being my favorite Quidditch player."

Harry gave her an embarassed smile, but Ginny just hugged him again. As Harry hugged her back, Sirius got up and moseyed over towards the twins. He turned around and sat, giving Ginny and Harry a suspiciously goofy dog grin.

"Next round," Ginny's dad called, banishing another set of presents. To everyone's shock, two very large, oblong boxes erupted from their hiding places under the christmas tree and landed on Harry and Ginny's laps.

"Oof!" Ginny grunted as she caught the nearer package. "What the?"

"Merlin! What are those?" Percy demanded.

Molly and Arthur looked as confused as everyone else and Sirius' grin was getting ridiculous. Ginny exchanged a look with Harry, and then tore into both of the boxes with him. The wrapping paper fell away and the cardboard came open, revealing a pair of gleaming black and silver broomsticks.

"Bloody hell! Those are Nimbus Two-Thousand-And-Ones!" Ron exclaimed.

_He didn't. Sweet sodding stench of Merlin's socks,_ Ginny thought, shooting Sirius an incredulous glance. _He did._

"_Woof!_"

"Does it say who they're from?" Ginny's mum asked.

Harry retrieved the cards and shook his head. "It just say's they're from Santa Claus."

Molly stared at the broomsticks, looking confused and bemused. Arthur peered at the two brooms with a bit of a frown on his face. Ron looked like he'd been clubbed over the head as Ginny slithered out from under the boxes and stood up. She held her new broom out at her side and let go. The sleek Nimbus hovered in the air at the perfect height for her to mount.

"Why would anyone buy Harry and Ginny brand new broomsticks?" Ron asked loudly. "Harry just got a broom! And who in their right mind would buy Ginny a Nimbus?"

Ginny stared at Ron and quirked an eyebrow, grumbling, "Gee, thanks."

Harry coughed to cover a laugh. Ginny had told him about her secretly learning to fly on her brother's brooms, but apparently Harry hadn't told Ron about it. Ginny grinned a wicked grin. She could save him the trouble, and lay any fears to rest about the brooms being jinxed at the same time.

Ginny mounted and turned to Harry. "Race you to the orchard and back."

"Hey no fair!" Harry called with a laugh as Ginny rocketed forward and out the open back door. He quickly leaped on to his own brand new Nimbus Two-Thousand-And-One and shot after her before her family's exclamations of surprise and protest could register.

"Ginny what are you doing?" Molly shouted.

At the same time, Arthur yelled, "Wait! They might not be safe!"

Ginny and Harry, however, were already out of sight.

Harry caught up to Ginny quickly as they wove between clusters of trees at fantastic speeds. Ginny circled halfway around a small copse, pulling up sharply to avoid a head-on collision with a grinning Harry and looping upside-down over the tops of the trees, nearly snagging her streaming red hair on the upper branches. She rolled herself upright, swerving in behind Harry as they reached the orchard, and flattened herself against her Nimbus' handle.

Harry did a barrel roll as they looped each other and reversed course, racing back towards the Burrow. Neck and neck they rocketed through the air, skirting perilously close to trees and the ground and each other, with the fluid grace of talented flyers on precision broomsticks.

Ginny shot out of the trees next to Harry and the two of them circled the Burrow a couple times before pulling in to hover over the back garden.

"Wow, Ginny that was amazing," Harry said, beaming. "You're a really good flyer."

Ginny grinned and waved off the compliment. "I've had a lot of practice. You're still better."

"Ginevra Weasley!" Molly shouted from the doorway, glaring up at Ginny and Harry. "What do you think you're doing?"

Harry landed quickly, looking like he wanted to shrink down into himself. "Sorry, Mrs. Weasley."

"I just wanted to try out the broom, Mum," Ginny said, drifting down to eye-level. "Sorry I didn't ask first. But they're awesome! So fast its unbelievable, and smooth as glass."

"That is not the point, Ginny," Molly scolded in a slightly gentler tone. "We have no idea where those brooms came from. They could have been fakes that broke down as soon as you got high enough to be hurt from a fall. They could have been jinxed! Get off that broom right now! You haven't even been taught to fly! You're going to hurt yourself!"

"I do too know how to fly," Ginny asserted, still hovering. "And look! The brooms are fine."

Her mum opened her mouth for a futher scolding, but seemed to hesitate. It was clear that she didn't want to yell at Harry, and apparently she realized that yelling at Ginny for something they'd both done was a bit hypocritical. Molly sighed.

"Well, I suppose there's no harm done," Molly conceeded, gently ushering Harry though the door. "Come on, hurry up and come in so the rest of the presents can get opened."

Ginny idly pushed her windswept hair back into something resembling its proper place as she followed Harry and her mum inside. Harry, of course, looked perfectly normal. His hair couldn't get much wilder than it was naturally.

"Wow, Ginny where did you learn to fly like that?" Charlie enthused while Harry sat down next to Ron and handed him his Nimbus. Ron took it with awe on his face, running his fingertips reverently over the glossy black finish and silver fastenings for the stirrups and tail.

"Well, I've sort of been sneaking out at night to practice on the brooms in the shed," Ginny admitted.

"You've been flying at night? Without any instruction?" Charlie repeated. "Hah! Looks like you are my sister afterall."

Ginny rolled her eyes and gave her second-oldest brother a playful punch.

Eventually they got back to the presents. When everyone opened their Weasley Sweater, Harry looked around at everyone, each examining their own, with a rather timid sort of smile. Ron complained about the color of his, as usual. Fred and George swapped sweaters and started calling each other Gred and Forge, to much amusement. Bill and Charlie started a wrapping-paper-ball fight.

Amidst the commotion, Harry quietly put on his own jade green Weasley Sweater, smiling mistily when Ginny took his hand. It matched his glistening eyes.

* * *

(**A/N**: Well, this chapter certainly turned out to be a lot harder to write than I thought it would be. I'm still not sure I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'll leave any further estimations of its quality up to you, the readers. You may have noticed by now that any time Ginny is the PoV character in this story, there is no confusion about who is Fred and who is George. I don't know why Ginny can tell them apart. Ginny doesn't know why she can tell them apart. I just like to think she can.)


	13. Dear Diary

**~Dear Diary~**

"Ginny, wake up," a low voice said urgently from across the room. "It's time."

Ginny snapped awake immediately and tensed for half a second before she recognized Sirius. It took another few seconds to realize that there was currently only one thing Sirius would risk taking human form in the Burrow to tell her it was time for. She slipped out of her bed and grabbed her coat and shoes. She was already wearing jeans, having gone to bed half-dressed every night since christmas in preparation for just such an opportunity.

Resuming dog form, Sirius led Ginny down the stairs and out into the night at a fast trot. Ginny broke into a jog to keep up with him.

As soon as the Burrow was out of sight, Sirius transformed. "We have an hour, if we're lucky. Lucius and Narcissa came back somewhat tipsy from the Greengrass's New Years party, and - you'll never believe this - forgot to seal the property wards! This is our chance to get into Malfoy Manor uninvited and undetected."

"Why an hour?" Ginny asked as Sirius rapped her on the head with his wand and she felt the cool trickle of the Disillusionment Charm taking hold.

Sirius repeated the charm on himself. "They left that elf of theirs at the party with Draco, but I didn't overhear much beyond that and the word 'hour' so I'm working with a best guess here."

Ginny took a slow breath. "There's no way to know when or if we'll get a better opportunity. We have to try."

"I figured you'd say that," Sirius chuckled darkly. "Let's do this."

"You should side-along me," Ginny said. "I want to be fully rested in case everything goes horribly wrong and we have to fight our way out."

Nodding, Sirius pulled two vials of Polyjuice out of his pocket and handed one to Ginny, just in case their Disillusionment Charms were dispelled and someone saw them. Ginny downed the vial immediately and felt her body begin to shift. The hairs in the potion had belonged to a pair of muggles, a young boy and his mother.

Luckily, the boy was slightly smaller than her, or walking would have become uncomfortable. Feeling her ovaries mutate and drop down out of her crotch was bad enough _without_ suddenly being made aware that her jeans were too small in the most unpleasant way possible.

"Heheh, squish," Sirius snickered as he _examined_ his polyjuiced chest, glancing sideways at Ginny.

Ginny smirked. "I'm not going to say it."

"Drat. And I had a brilliant pun lined up and everything," Sirius sighed.

"There is no such thing as a brilliant pun," Ginny said.

Sirius made a grumbling noise. "You sound like James. I'll have you know puns are a perfectly valid form of humor."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

"I assure you I am in no way bitter about certain words that my name may or may not sound like," Sirius pronounced.

"Fine, enough about puns," Ginny said. "Time to be serious."

Sirius dropped his forehead into his palm. Ginny grinned.

With a roll of his eyes and a smile, Sirius gripped Ginny's shoulder and took a long breath before disapparating with Ginny in tow. They reappeared just outside the Malfoy Manor property line. Silent and fast, Ginny led the way through the illusiory front gate and up the long stone path.

Moving in tandem, using mostly the sound of their footfalls to keep track of where the other was, Ginny and Sirius skirted the hedges edging the property before making for a particular side enterance. A silent _Alohamora!_ took care of the unwarded lock, and the pair of them slipped inside.

The hallway was dim, paneled in polished ebony that glinted in the weak light spilling out from the kitchen. Sirius moved ahead cautiously while Ginny turned and shut the door behind them as quietly as possible. The manor was silent, and Ginny let herself hope that they might actually pull off the heist without being noticed.

Without moonlight to cast a shadow, Ginny lost sight of Sirius and had to follow him purely by the faint sound of his footsteps. The drawing room was pitch black. None of the candles or lanters were lit and it was generally a bad idea to go shining a lumos all over the place when stealth was the primary goal. She heard Sirius pause in the doorway and halted beside him.

It took several precious minutes for their eyes to adjust and the black void to resolve itself into a room.

Sirius went straight to the concealed trapdoor as Ginny carefully levitated the rug that hid it. He knelt and started murmuring spells under his breath. Ginny put her back to the nearest wall and stilled herself, straining her senses for any sign of interuption.

Sirius had been working for about five minutes when Ginny heard a noise. She froze, not even breathing as she listened. It was coming from above them, a soft creaking and faint rythmic thumping. Ginny blinked. If she didn't know better -

There was a rather distinct feminine moan.

Right, well now she knew what the Malfoys were doing. Sirius was too focused on his spellwork to pick up on the barely audible sounds. There was a shimmer around the trapdoor, and as Ginny watched it intensified.

It was another two minutes at least before the wards on the compartment shattered with a soft woosh and Sirius slumped back to catch his breath. Ginny moved forward and focused on the distorted outline of Sirius' head. He nodded. Ginny dropped to her knees and carefully levered the compartment open.

She swung herself down onto the narrow ladder and slid into the darkness, silently lighting her wand as she went. Her feet hit packed earth and she turned to the shelves lining the walls of the small space. Wandlight swept over a great variety of dark trinkets as Ginny searched. She was careful to touch nothing.

It didn't take her long to spot the innocuous-looking little black book. It called to her, creeping in and tugging at her soul. Ginny shuddered as she picked it up and aimed her wand at it.

"_Gemino!_" she whispered.

A duplicate diary fell to the floor. Ginny stuffed the real one into the inside-pocket of her coat and placed the duplicate on the shelf. She was not the same little girl who'd been taken in by Tom Riddle. There was no affection or attachment to the cursed diary in her heart this time, nor any fear; only contempt and hatred.

She remembered watching through Tom's eyes as Harry slammed the basilisk fang through the cover. She remembered the incredulous shock Tom felt, giving way quickly to terror as Harry destroyed him. Now it was Ginny's turn.

Ginny threw herself up the ladder and out next to Sirius. "I've got it."

He immediatly shut the trapdoor and started chanting under his breath, slowly building up new wards to replace the ones he'd dismantled. Ginny renewed her levitation charm on the rug, which was starting to droop towards their heads.

Building up the replacement wards was quicker than tearing down the old ones, especially since both had to be done quietly, but it still took several minutes. Sirius' voice sounded strained from the effort, but he didn't falter.

Finally, Sirius finished his work and sagged back. He scooted out heavily from beneath the floating rug. Ginny grinned. They'd done -

Light flared, momentarily blinding Ginny as the lanterns in the room lit themselves.

"_Homenum Revelio!_" a woman's voice hissed softly.

Ginny spun, wand snapping up. "_Stupefy!_"

Narcissa Malfoy, standing at the foot of the staircase and wearing a gossamar nightgown that looked like it cost more than a Firebolt, ducked the stunner and screamed, "_Finite Incantatem!_"

"_Stu - _" Sirius' spell cut off as their Disillusionment Charms broke with a sound like a shattering bell. It felt like being encased in ice and then hit with a hammer. Having that charm forcibly dispelled _hurt_. That would have been good to know before they planned this! Ginny fell, landing hard on her back as her negated levitation charm dropped the hovering rug right on top of her.

Ginny's wand slashed up. _Diffindo!_

She twisted her legs up through the gash in the rug, shifting her weight to her shoulders and launching herself backwards. She cleared the rug and wrentched herself upright, thankful that her polyjuiced body had short hair. Ginny's wand lashed out, catching Narcissa's stunner and redirecting it towards the celling. If she'd had her normal hair, it would have blocked her vision just long enough for that spell to have hit her.

"_Stupefy!_" Sirius cast, while Narcissa was focused on Ginny.

Narcissa tried to deflect it, but she was too slow. The spell connected, knocking her back against the stairs. She crumpled, sliding down to the floor. Her opulent nightgown snagged on the steps and tore as she fell, baring the woman's lower body.

Footsteps echoed down from above. There was no way Lucius hadn't heard the fight. Ginny and Sirius locked eyes, sharing the same thought. _Fuck._

"Go go go!" Ginny yelled, running at and passed Sirius towards the door they'd come in through.

"_Protego!_" Sirius shouted from behind Ginny as Lucius appeared in the stairwell. "Keep running! I'll catch up!"

Ginny vaulted out of the house and sprinted across the entirely-too-vast lawn. The sounds of battle followed her, but Ginny knew that Sirius could catch up to her easily in his dog form. She heard the grunt of pain and the thud of Lucius hitting the ground and glanced over her shoulder.

Sirius transformed and bolted after her while Lucius was dazed. Still running, Ginny aimed her wand at the front gates, which had shifted to their solid state. "_Reducto! Bombada! Reducto! Bombada! Reducto! Reducto! Reducto!_"

The enchanted metal dented and bent under her onslaught, which was focused on the lower left corner of the gate. Her aim was less than perfect from such a distance and while running, but a hole was starting to appear as she drained her magic reserves. With her immature magical core, she only had a dozen or so good spells in her before she exhausted herself.

"_Claustraedis Malfoy Mactaperio!_" Lucius bellowed, thrusting his wand at the sky.

Thanks to Bill, Ginny knew enough about wards to recognize that incatation. Lucius had just set the wards to full hostility against anyone not of Malfoy blood.

_Bloody fucking shit!_ Ginny thought. _He's trying to kill us!_

A shimmering glow formed in the air above the Manor and spread outward like a ripple in a pond, arcing downward in a dome shape towards the edges of the property. The wave swept over Ginny's head with an ominous thrumming sound.

Ginny was nearly falling down from magical exhaustion as she dove through the jagged hole she'd made in the front gate. A torn spur of metal gouged through her jeans and dug a bloody slice out of her thigh. She collapsed to the ground outside with a screech of pain and twisted around to look for Sirius.

The dark shaggy shape that was Padfoot raced in a zigzag as Lucius hurled spells after him, tearing up furrows in the expansive lawn. The wave of magic defining the wards swept downwards like a crushing celling of invisible doom, seconds from slamming down on Sirius.

Something else Ginny knew from Bill hit her like a bludger to the head as she watched Sirius close the distance to the gate. Sirius and Narcissa were related by blood. If the wards touched Sirius first, they'd kill Narcissa too, but if they touched Narcissa first, they'd spare Sirius and Lucius would have a major clue as to who actually tried to rob him.

Sirius shot through the hole just as the wards slammed down, transforming and landing hard on his shoulder in the gravel as he slid into Ginny. He grabbed onto her and twisted them into the pressing darkness of apparation.

* * *

An impact. Cold grass. A voice shouting her name.

* * *

"Ginny, come on, you gotta drink this. Come on Ginny," someone murmured, sounding an awful lot like George.

"What do we do?" a very similar-sounding someone asked with an edge of panic. "She won't swallow the blood-replenisher!"

There was a sharp stinging pain in her leg, which roused her enough to notice something hard and glassy pressed against her bottom lip. Blood-replenisher, he said, which probably meant she was bleeding. It was probably a good idea to drink that potion. She was so sleepy and sluggish, though. The prospect of lifting her head and opening her mouth seemed as daunting as giving Hagrid a piggy-back ride.

"Keep trying," Sirius' voice growled. "I've got to focus on closing this wound. I think the gate must have had a curse on it. The edges already look infected. Make sure you give her the blood-cleanser too."

Ginny tried to speak and succeeded only in making a tiny moaning noise. George heard, though, and gasped. He lifted her head and repeated his earlier plea. With a herculean effort, Ginny made her muscles move and swallowed the trickle of potion George poured into her mouth.

Two more potions followed the first one before Ginny passed out again.

* * *

Ginny woke slowly to dappled winter sunlight filtering down through sparse leaves and branches. She blinked at the pale morning sky and turned her head to look around her. She saw the familiar clearing and Sirius dozing under the nearest tree. Her head spun as she sat up and she groaned.

A circle of damp grass surrouned the blankets Sirius must have conjured for her, where the warming charm had kept the snow from landing. It was piled up by inches in a perfect circle around her.

Ginny lifted the top blanket and saw a large white bandage wrapped around her right thigh. She prodded it curiously; it didn't hurt too bad. Grabbing her jeans from where they were folded up next to her, Ginny stood carefully and put a bit of weight on her injured leg. There was a bad twinge, but it held. She'd have to be careful to hide her limp, though.

Ginny blanched at the thought that followed that. "Shit. Mum must be going mental by now."

"Nah, Gred 'n Forge went'n 'r distractin' 'er," Sirius mumbled blearily.

"What time is it?" Ginny asked as she pulled on her jeans.

Sirius blinked at her and lurched up, cracking his head on a low-hanging branch. While he clutched his head and started swearing, Ginny laughed so hard she lost her balance with her jeans half-on and fell down. Thankfully she fell on her uninjured side, or it might have hurt. A lot.

Ginny finished pulling her jeans on and stood back up. The next thing she knew Sirius was hugging her.

"Damnit Ginny! I swear if you ever make me worry like that again," Sirius said, letting go of her.

Ginny chuckled weakly. "No promises, Sirius, but thanks. Where's the diary?"

"In the nook next to The Package," Sirius told her, running a hand through his hair. "Bloody hell, that was a close one."

"You seem to have done a pretty nice job patching me up," Ginny said.

"Yeah, well, that's thanks to Moony," Sirius said. "I got pretty good at fixing him up after a full moon. Never had to deal with curse damage or an infection, though. If we hadn't had that emergency kit..."

"But we did, and I'm okay," Ginny said with a smile. "And we pulled it off! There's a good chance the Malfoys won't notice anything missing or anything amiss. I think they'll assume that Narcissa caught us before we had a chance to do or take anything."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "And it's after ten, by the way. We should really get you back to the Burrow before your mum finishes yelling at the twins."

"Right, remind me to thank them for taking _that_ one for the team," Ginny said with a grin. "I'm not sure I can walk that far right now, though. I'll need some form of transportation..."

"Ginny, why are you looking at me like that?" Sirius asked. "I do not like that look. I really do not like that look that is on your face right now..."

Several minutes later, a laughing red-headed girl of eleven rode a disgruntled-looking grim out of the forest.

* * *

Winter break was over, and Harry couldn't help smiling about the wonderful christmas the Weasleys had shared with him. It had been like nothing in his life before. A happy family. A home with people that actually wanted him around, even if he wasn't one of them.

Harry, Ron, and the rest all piled into the enchanted car for the trip to King's Cross, and for once Harry felt like he belonged. Ginny slipped into the back seat next to him as Mr. Weasley climbed into the driver's seat. She winced slightly as her right leg bumped up against his left. She'd told him she'd gotten hurt a little bit but didn't want her mum to find out and fuss over her because she was just fine, thank you very much.

Mr. Weasley started the engine and drove them out towards the highway. Ginny leaned into his side, and Harry didn't think twice about it. He'd gotten used to her, and had come to admit that a part of him enjoyed the closeness. Hungered for it, even, like a starving animal that was suddenly getting regular meals.

There was a bit of light-hearted bickering between Ron and Ginny as they drove, over Ginny's claim that the Harpies wouldn't take any of the Cannons' players even if they _were_ women, which quickly devolved into them climbing over Harry to get at each other and Harry laughing as he dodged.

"Alright, settle down back there if you please," Mr. Weasley said.

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Mr. Weasley."

"You don't need to apologize, Harry," Ginny said. "You just happened to get caught in the crossfire. It was all Ron's fault."

"Yea - hey!" Ron exclaimed, to much laughter.

A short while later, Harry had a thought. "Do you think they'll have replaced Professor Snape yet?"

"I'm sure the school board is doing its best to find quality instructors to fill in for both of our erstwhile Professors," Percy pronounced from the front seat.

"I've heard rumors that Professor Dumbledore is bringing the previous potions Professor out of retirement," Mr. Weasley offered. "I don't know how reliable those rumors are, though."

"I'm just glad we don't have to put up with Snape anymore," Ron said.

Harry frowned. "He tried to protect us, at the end, though. He died fighting Voldemort. Maybe he wasn't as bad as we thought."

No one had anything to say to that. After a bit of silence, Harry looked down and saw that Ginny's hand had snuck into his. A short while later they were pulling into the parking lot at the train station. Everyone piled out of the car and gathered up the luggage, and before he knew it they were back on Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters.

"Thanks for having me, Mr. Weasley," Harry said.

"Of course! Any time, Harry," he replied.

"You'd better be coming over this summer, Harry," Ginny said as she gave him a firm hug. "I'll hex Ron if he forgets to invite you and then invite you myself if he does."

Harry chuckled. "I'll miss you, Ginny. Promise to write?"

"Only if you promise, too," Ginny said with a grin.

"Every week," Harry promised.

Ginny gave him that blazing look that made his stomach feel all fluttery and hugged him again. "Have a good term, Harry."

Ron got a one-armed hug from Mr. Weasley and waved goodbye as he and Harry dragged their trunks onto the train.

* * *

Back at a much quieter Burrow, Ginny hugged her mum, went up to her room, and found her spare quill and ink. With the writing items safely in her pocket, Ginny went out into the garden and jogged to the treeline.

Her breathing was labored. She could make her injured leg move like it normally did, but it hurt quite a bit and took a lot more effort than usual. Catching her breath, Ginny slowed and hobbled the rest of the way to the clearing.

Sirius was waiting for her, diary in hand. He handed it to her.

Ginny looked down at the diary in her hands for a long moment. "Let's go."

On a stark mountainside miles and miles away, Ginny and Sirius apparated with two quick cracks that echoed off the rocks. Sirius hung back while Ginny stalked down to the scorched area where the other horcruxes had died. She set it down on the rock and opened it, pulling out her quill.

_Hello Tom,_ she wrote.

_Hello. You feel familiar, yet I do not recognize you,_ he wrote back. _What is your name?_

_My name is Ginny. Would you like me to tell you what I'm going to do today?_

Tom's words appeared quickly. _I would like that, Ginny. Please tell me._

_I'm going to kill you._ Ginny finished with a flourish and apparated back to Sirius.

He raised his wand between his hands and breathed the sound of Fiendfyre. A great beastial shape of dark fire exploded into being and crashed down on the flapping diary. Ginny basked in the dieing screams of the evil thing with grim satisfaction as the firey force raged across the bare rock of the mountain, leaving the charred remnant of the diary laying lifeless upon the smoking stone.

It was over. Once Sirius sent The Package to finish off the cup, all that remained between her Harry and a happy, peaceful life was the fragment in his scar. Ginny breathed a long sigh of relief as she picked up the remnant of the diary.

The easy part was done. Now it was time to involve Dumbledore.

* * *

(**A/N:** So, a number of readers have pointed out that I've forgotten Nagini. Actually, I haven't. Nagini didn't become a horcrux until some point between books three and four, after Wormtail helps Voldemort attain a rudimentary physical form. At this point, Nagini is just a snake, and in no way a horcrux.)


	14. Past and Future

**~Past and Future~**

Albus Dumbledore was having a reasonably good day. The students had arrived back from their holiday the previous morning, without incident. He was holding in his hands a letter from one, Remus Lupin, containing the man's agreement to take on the post of Defense Professor for the remainder of the school year. In addition, thanks to some delicate and masterful persuasion, Horace Slughorn was busy settling into his new office in the dungeons.

It was a tragedy that he'd lost Severus, and Dumbledore considered it a personal failure that the man had not had a chance to fully redeem himself, but it did not require Dumbledore to adjust his plans all that much.

Dumbledore folded up the letter from Remus and began on the appropriate paperwork. He was about half finished when the enchantments of his office alerted him to the presence of an unrecognized person throwing rapidly-guessed passwords at his gargoyle. Curious, Dumbledore sent the mental command to the guardian to make it step aside.

Moments later, his office door slammed open and a little girl with Weasley hair and a canvas satchel barged into the room. A flicker of his surprise slipped into his expression before he managed to put on a kind smile.

Unless he was very much mistaken, the child marching up to his desk was indeed the youngest Weasley, Ginevra, whom young Harry had been corrisponding with. What she was doing at Hogwarts when he was fairly sure she wasn't old enough to have gotten her letter yet, was more of a mystery. And _how_ had the girl gotten to the castle at all? That showed an intriguing resourcefulness all by itself.

It went without saying that Molly, bless her heart, would be livid that her daughter had gone on such an excursion. Young Ginny looked quite determined, though, whatever her purpose was. Perhaps it would be be best to humor the poor girl.

"This is quite a surprise," Dumbledore said. "What brings you here, Miss Weasley?"

"Everything, Professor," Ginny stated, notably unintimidated. "Starting with these."

The girl pulled open her satchel and upended it over Dumbledore's desk. Three items tumbled out onto his paperwork, all looking as though they'd spent a rather long while in a fire. There was a blackened book-cover with most of its pages burnt away, what looked like a melted ring, and a charred locket the size of an egg.

"Oh? What might these be?" Dumbledore asked bemusedly.

In response, Ginevra Weasley pushed open the book-cover, presenting a thoroughly shocking inscription. "These are what's left of Voldemort's horcruxes."

* * *

Ginny pushed herself up off the grass and adjusted the weight of her satchel, the dead horcruxes shifting within. A trio of Gringotts owls swooped down towards Sirius, as he carefully prodded The Package with his wand.

"How long are you setting the timer for?" Ginny asked.

"As long as it can be set," Sirius said. "Twelve hours, I think."

Ginny nodded. "Knowing our luck, any less and it'd go off before it even got put in the vault."

Sirius chuckled weakly, pocketing his wand. Ginny helped him tie The Package onto the three owls. Working together, the owls heaved the heavy wrapped box up into the air and flew off towards London, carrying her one shot at destroying the cup horcrux. Ginny resisted an insane urge to salute the departing owls.

"Right," Sirius said. "I'm gonna go get drunk and pray this crazy scheme works, not necessarily in that order. When exactly are you planning to go rock Dumbledore's world?"

Ginny snorted and glanced at Sirius' watch. "Just about now, actually. The students should all be busy eating lunch by the time I get there."

"Are you going to tell him about, well, me?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said. "I think I'll wait and see how he takes the whole I'm-from-the-future thing, first. Maybe drop a hint."

"Right, well, good luck," Sirius said, mussing Ginny's hair and then disapparating with a laugh before she had time to hex him in retaliation.

Ginny chuckled to herself as she turned on the spot and disapparated. A moment later, she burst from the crushing darkness and smashed hard into something solid and wooden with the top of her head. Her eyes crossed and her vision blacked out for a moment as she hissed in pain.

So her aim was less than perfect apparating into a small confined space from dozens of miles away. It was better than setting off the intruder alarm in Honeyduke's again. Ginny clutched at the top of her head to make sure her skull was still in one piece. Her hand came away with spots of blood on it.

"Oh, brilliant," Ginny fumed, putting her wand to the crown of her head and intoning, "_Exuviate!_"

This was followed by an, "_Aguamenti!_" and a drying charm to get the blood out of her hair. The result was far from perfect and her skull still throbbed, but at least she didn't look like she'd just been clubbed in the head.

Ginny adjusted her satchel and started jogging down the secret passage towards Hogwarts. Minutes later, she reached the one-eyed witch and slipped into the castle proper. Ginny glanced around, confirming that she was alone in the corridor, and set off quickly for the headmaster's office.

She reached the gargoyle without incident and started rapidly guessing passwords. "Chocolate Frogs? Snickers? Pumpkin Pasty? Kit kat? Sherbert Lemon? Cockroach cluster? Acid pop? Twinkie? Funio - "

Ginny cut off as the gargoyle jerked to life and stepped aside. She strode passed, leaping up the stairs two at a time, reaching the top before the spiral had even started moving. She pushed the door open without slowing and strode up to the headmaster's desk, relieved to find the old Professor present.

"This is quite a surprise. What brings you here, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked.

Ginny dumped the contents of her satchel on his desk. "Everything, Professor. Starting with these."

"Oh?" Dumbledore remarked, peering at the three husks. "What might these be?"

Deciding it would be best to reveal it directly, Ginny reached for the destroyed diary. She flipped the cover open and showed Dumbledore the inscription. _T. M. Riddle._ Dumbledore's eyes flew wide.

"These are what's left of Voldemort's material horcruxes," Ginny said.

Dumbledore was silent with an expression of genuine surprise on his face for almost a minute. Suddenly, he pulled his wand out and started waving it in precise motions over the three husks.

"There were two more than these," Ginny added after the silence had stretched. "The diadem of Ravenclaw and the cup of Hufflepuff, but I don't have their remnants. And one more than those, which is intact in Harry's scar."

Dumbledore blinked and looked up, still appearing mildly shocked. "Perhaps you had best explain how you came to identify and aquire these items, Miss Weasley, if that is indeed who you are and not a guise."

"I _am_ Ginny Weasley, Professor. But Ginny Weasley with all of the memories and skills I possessed at seventeen years of age," she explained. "I'm from the future."

Dumbledore peered at her intently over his half-moon spectacles. "Ah. This wouldn't have anything to do with the unfortunate distruction of a certain seventh-floor corridor, would it?"

"Well, actually," Ginny admitted, trailing off.

Dumbledore looked at her thoughtfully for almost a full minute. "Might I ask how you managed to perform a Temporal Traversion at only seventeen years of age?"

"You _believe_ me?" Ginny exclaimed. "Just like that?"

"Perhaps," Dumbledore said with a slight smile, gesturing at the burnt remnants. "These objects were indeed once Horcruxes. Given that you are aware of that term at all, and that while I am fairly certain these objects were purged with Fiendfyre I've yet to recieve any reports of Ottery St. Catchpole burning to ash, it seems wise to take your story seriously."

Ginny let out a sigh of relief. "Well, to answer your question, I don't even know what a Temporal Traversion is. I have no idea how I came back, but I know when, and I'm fairly certain it _was_ the Come & Go Room that sent me back, but I'm only guessing about that too."

"I see," Dumbledore said, the twinkle returning to his eyes. "Am I to assume the destruction at the beginning of the school year coincided with your soul rejoining the timestream?"

"Er, if you mean if that was when I arrived, then yes as near as I can tell," Ginny said with a slight wince. "Do you know why the Room exploded, Sir? I can't imagine that I'm the first person to cry out for a lost loved one in the presence of the Room. It's been around for a thousand years. Lucky, though. The explosion destroyed one of the horcruxes and I didn't even have to do anything."

"A horcrux was present in the Room when your own soul passed through it?" Dumbledore asked sharply.

Ginny blinked at the sudden change in tone. "Yeah, the diadem. Ravenclaw's diadem."

After a short silence, Dumbledore sat back and smiled. "That alone may explain the destruction. You see, there are only two ways by which one may time travel. One may travel _in_ Time as physical matter, or one may travel _across_ Time as energy, mind and soul. In the latter case, the traveler passes _outside_ of Time, and I suspect that for the Room to recieve you, it too must have stretched itself partially out of Time."

So... you're saying that moving outside of Time causes horcruxes to explode?" Ginny guessed. "The room would have been fine if there hadn't been a horcrux in it?"

"That is my suspicion, yes," Dumbledore said. "A horcrux remains connected to the soul that created it, but that connection, by its nature, could not extend beyond Time. I would postulate that when the Room shifted to transfer you across two Times, the connection was cut and the soul fragment dissolved, which in turn caused the enchantments to collapse and discharge."

A sudden hope bloomed in Ginny's chest. "Does that mean Harry's scar would be destroyed if we somehow shifted _him_ outside of Time? There aren't any enchantments on his scar, so it shouldn't hurt him at all!"

"Alas, it is a clever thought," Dumbledore said with a sad smile. "Unfortunately, whatever magic it was that gave the Room power over Time has since been lost to the ages. Such a feat is beyond the capabilities of any living wizard or witch."

Ginny visibly wilted. "Damn."

Dumbledore peered at her for a long moment. "You spoke of crying out for a lost loved one as causing the Room to send you back. May I ask, who did you lose?"

"Can't you guess?" Ginny answered quietly, briefly shutting her eyes.

A shadow passed over Dumbledore's face. "It was Harry, wasn't it."

Ginny nodded. "Yes."

"What happened? What went wrong?" Dumbledore asked, gently dismayed.

"Harry _died_," Ginny said archly, before frowning. "I don't really know, Professor. I didn't know the plan. I didn't even know about the horcruxes until Hermione Granger filled me in after it was all over."

"After it was over?" Dumbledore asked with a note of trepidation.

Ginny sighed. "We did win. Harry sacrificed himself for us, and it gave us protection, somehow. Enemy curses would just bounce off of us without doing anything. When we saw Harry's body - " Ginny forced down the lump that had risen in her throat. "When we saw Harry's body and Voldemort started taunting us with it, I went insane with rage, and everybody else wasn't very far behind me. We didn't even realize we were invulnerable at first. I killed more than a dozen Death Eaters, and Neville Longbottom split Voldemort's head in half with the Sword of Gryffindor. Once Voldemort was dead, the protection stopped working, but by then there were only a few scattered Death Eaters still standing."

"Harry gave himself up?" Dumbledore whispered. "Why?"

"I don't _know_ why," Ginny growled. "Voldemort offered to spare us if Harry handed himself over. Maybe just the slim chance he would keep his word was enough to make Harry do it. Maybe he knew what would happen when Voldemort tried to go back on the deal. Maybe he knew about the horcrux in his scar and was planing on dieing anyway. I don't know. I was hoping you would have some idea."

Dumbledore sank in on himself a little, looking very old, suddenly. After a moment, though, he sat up abruptly.

"How did Voldemort return to a body?" he asked. "Do you know?"

Ginny nodded. "It was the end of Harry's fourth year. Harry was abducted and taken to Little Hangleton. Voldemort already had a homunculus body and then there was a ritual. _Bone of the father, unknowingly given. Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed. Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken._"

"He used Harry's blood? You're sure?" Dumbledore demanded.

"Yes," Ginny confirmed. "Harry was pretty clear on that point."

Dumbledore sat back, looking stunned. A moment later he stood up and started pacing behind his desk. If Ginny didn't know better, she would have thought he'd completely forgotten she was still in the room.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, with some worry.

"It appears you may have saved me from a grevious error, Miss Weasley," Dumbldedore said. "You see, I must have comcluded that in incorporating Harry's blood in his body, Voldemort would inadvertently form a recursive bond wrought from the protection of Lily Potter's sacrifice. This would have the dual effect of allowing Voldemort's magic through Lily's protection, making it possible for him to strike the blow that would destroy the horcrux in Harry, while simultaneously tying Harry to his own life, allowing Harry to survive that strike so long as it came from Voldemort's hand. Such is indicated in my research, but if what you say is true, my figuring must be critically incorrect."

"Wait, are you saying that Harry _thought he would survive_, and that's why he gave himself to Voldemort?" Ginny exclaimed.

Dumbledore stopped pacing and shook his head. "No, I would think not. If he had expected to survive, his sacrifice could never have conveyed a protection unto others as you say it did. However... do you know _how_ your Harry was killed?"

"Killing curse," Ginny said. "How else?"

"And given that the protection encompassed the whole of Voldemort's forces, it _had_ to have been Voldemort himself who struck the killing blow," Dumbledore murmured thoughtfully.

The old man let out a tired sigh and sank into his chair. Ginny, who had been standing before the great oaken desk the whole time, stepped sideways and dropped herself into a guest chair.

"Were there no other possible ways to neutralize Harry's scar?" Ginny finally asked.

"None to my knowledge, I'm afraid," Dumbledore said. "At least, none that do not pose an unacceptable risk to Harry."

Ginny's fists clenched. "No. There must be some way."

"I have not given up, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said with a sympathetic smile. "I have only just begun to look for solutions to our problem. It was only the events of two months ago which gave me the clue that led me to guess that Harry's scar was a horcrux in the first place."

Ginny blinked. "You mean, when Harry took another killing curse to save Hermione?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "Additionally, thanks to your own efforts, I will no longer need to spend a considerable amount of time convincing the returning Professor Slughorn to give up memories of his conversations with the young Tom Riddle. I suspect we are rather ahead of the game."

Ginny nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I don't think you figured any of this out last time until Harry's fifth or sixth year, long after Voldemort had already returned."

Dumbledore twinkled at her. "So, there is hope. Do not fret."

"Right," Ginny said dryly. "In the mean time, we need to make sure Voldemort is not found by any of his people. Even allowing him to get as far as a rudimentary homunculus is more than we can afford, since even that is enough for him to be able to create additional horcruxes we won't know about. Little Hangleton needs to be watched, at the very least."

Dumbledore nodded. "I will arrange it. It may prove prudent to reform the Order of the Pheonix in full, in fact."

Ginny stood. "Right. Oh, by the way, there's something else you should do as soon as possible."

"What would that be, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked.

"Get some Veretiserum, and go to Sirius Black's cell in Azkaban," Ginny said. "Use it on the man you find there, and ask about the night Harry's parents died."

A brief flicker of surprise flashed across Dumbledore face, followed by a slight frown. "I will do so, this very day."

"Thank you, Professor," Ginny said. "I'd better get home now."

* * *

That evening, as Ginny sat in the Burrow pretending to read an issue of _Quidditch Review Quarterly_, with Sirius curled up as a dog and snoring on the sofa next to her, she caught a flash of silver in the corner of her eyes. Ginny glanced up and looked around the sitting room, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. A low fire burned in the hearth and her mum sat in her favorite arm chair, sipping tea and reading the _Daily Prophet_.

Again she saw the glimmer of silver, but every time she turned, there was nothing there. Then she had to resist the urge to smack herself as she realized what it had to be. Unobtrusively as she could, Ginny got up and climbed the stairs to her room. As soon as she shut the door, the shimmering ethereal pheonix soared into view, filling her room with its brilliant silver light.

"I have spoken with the occupant of Sirius Black's prison cell, in the manner you recommended," came Dumbledore's voice. "I am deeply desturbed by what I have learned, and will endevor to correct this terrible misjustice, though forcing the Ministry to admit to such a large mistake will not be a simple matter. In the mean time, I approve of your own rash-yet-effective provisional solution. Well done. I will be in touch."

Message delivered, the luminous patronus let out a soft trill and faded away. Ginny let out a long sigh of relief, resting her head against the closed door. Another worry vanquished. She pulled the door open and went to wake Sirius.

* * *

Peter Pettigrew was not having a good day. For that matter, he wasn't having a good - well, he didn't actually know how long he'd been in this place of never-ending torment. Azkaban. He was in Azkaban.

It was something he should have realized moments after waking all that time ago, but with the Dementor's chill clouding his thoughts, Peter had been little more than an incoherent ball of huddled misery.

But then, one day, the chill had receeded, and he'd felt hands upon him and a liquid poured on his tongue, and an entirely different sort of daze came over his mind. And when it was over, he realized he'd spilled the secret he'd spent ten years as a rat to keep; his betrayal, his ultimate shame, his acquiescence to the darkness.

Sheer panic kept Peter lucid long enough after the ancient wizard left for a desperate plan to take form. He couldn't fathom what had happened to land him in this predicament in the first place. As far as he could recall, he'd gone to sleep in a tangle of Ron's sheets as always, and the next thing he knew he was waking up in the thrall of the Dementors. However it happened, however he ended up here, that didn't matter right now. Peter had to get out, to survive, before his only chance was taken from him.

The change came sluggishly, but come it did. Miraculously, the headmaster had not once asked him, "Are you an animagus?" and though his other questions skirted nerve-wrackingly close to the subject, even without lying Peter had managed to keep that one, most useful of his secrets. The floor rushed up at him as his familiar brown snout pushed out into his field of vision.

Peter rushed out between the bars of his cell and began the long - for a rat - journey up to the Auror quarters. It was risky and more daring than he normally had stomach for, but the only way he was getting off this island was with a wand. And with - as reluctant as Peter was to free them - some help from his unfortunate collegues.

Even with his rat body between him and the effects of the dementors, by the time Peter reached the top level he was shivering. The warmth maintained by several of the Aurors' patronuses hit him like a wall as he slipped inside the barracks.

Peter skittered sideways as a foot came down perilously close by. He hugged the shadows, moving parallel to the falls of those heavy boots as their owner went through a pair of heavy double doors. Peter heard a low murmur of conversation that he couldn't make out and turned the other way. The only way he might not be caught was if he found one alone.

The barracks stretched all along the top of the prison's south wall, but only a small set of rooms at the east end were in use by the Aurors. Less area for their patronuses to cover, Peter figured. He hunkered down in a dim corner just outside the room with all the bored-sounding voices, and waited.

The first Auror to step out had his wand in his hand and a badger patronus following him on his way to what Peter thought was the bathroom. An hour later, the second Auror to emerge crossed into a small private office, without a patronus, but Peter didn't follow that one either - he looked far too burly and wary. Peter didn't like his odds on being able to overpower the grizzled old man.

Almost another hour went by before Peter finally saw his chance. The young man walked passed Peter's hiding place while stifling a yawn, and he didn't have his wand out either. Peter followed him cautiously and nealy collapsed with relief when the young Auror went into another small office and sat heavily at the desk.

Slipping in on the Auror's heels, Peter hugged the baseboard as he snuck around behind the surprisingly-muggle office chair. The Auror drew his wand and lit a small lamp sitting at the corner of the desk. He set the wand down next to him and turned to a low stack of paperwork.

Peter saw his chance. In one quick motion, he transformed and wrapped his human arms around the Auror's head. He wrenched sideways with all his strength and almost collapsed with relief when he heard the telltale snap of the man's neck.

He lowered the dead Auror to the floor carefully and snatched the man's wand from the desk. His hands were shaking so badly he almost dropped it. Peter didn't even want to think about what could have happened if he hadn't managed to break the Auror's neck on his first try.

But he had a wand now. That would make all the difference.


	15. The Best Laid Plans

**~The Best Laid Plans~**

The moon hung large over the blurry swath of forbidden forest that Harry could see through his dorm window as he changed into his pajamas. He climbed into his unbelievably comfortable four-poster and looked over at Ron's, where the red-headed boy was peering curiously at his pet.

"Huh," Ron said. "Harry? Does Scabbers look different to you?"

Harry put his glasses back on and examined the little animal. "I don't think so. No, that's how he's always looked to me."

"Really? Huh. I could've sworn he was missing a toe," Ron explained. "Do you think maybe it grew back?"

"I thought only lizards did that," Harry said.

Ron gave his pet another confused look. "Huh."

* * *

At eleven o'clock at night on January 12th, 1992, a deafening boom shook the very foundations of Gringotts. Hundreds of goblins froze in what they were doing and stared down at the floor beneath their feet in disbelief. A cloying silence decended as the echos faded. That silence stretched for several moments before it was broken everywhere at once by a flurry of activity.

The Front Managers secured the reception building and raised the emergency wards. The sound of clanking armor filled the halls and great chasms as warriors piled into the employee-only carts.

In the bowels of the Vault caverns, they found a scene of carnage. There was little more than gravel and molten slag in a rocky pit where the Lestrange vault used to be. The great iron door was found in shreds spread from one end of the cavern to the other, fused into the rock, some pieces dripping blood. The great white guardian dragon had been reduced to bite-sized chunks of meat and bone by the flying shrapnel.

The goblins were not happy.

* * *

Sirius bounded into their clearing and spun around in a flurry of kicked-up snow, transforming as he came to face her. "Well?"

"Dumbledore questioned Peter under Veretiserum," Ginny said. "He knows the truth now."

A light evening breeze gusted through the clearing as Sirius leaned on the heavy oak they used as a hiding spot, closing his eyes for the space of a slow breath. Ginny pulled her coat tighter against the cold.

"Good," Sirius grunted, sitting heavily on a protruding root. "What about the rest of it? How'd he take the whole Ginny-from-the-future thing?"

"He didn't even seem all that surprised," Ginny said, affecting a petulant air. "The horcrux husks alone seemed to convince him, but really, who knows how Dumbledore thinks?"

"Who indeed." Sirius broke into a wide grin. "We're going to win, aren't we?"

"It's starting to look that way, isn't it?" Ginny agreed with a laugh.

* * *

"We've lost them all," her dad told them solemnly. "Every marked follower we had in Azkaban is loose on our world now. The DMLE is trying to track them, but... Ginny? I think it would be best if you didn't leave the - "

"WHAT?"

There was a sharp canine whine from across the room as Sirius' shaggy black head snapped up with an expression that echoed Ginny's dismayed shriek.

Arthur Weasley sighed, folding his hands on the edge of the dinner table. "I'm sorry, Ginny, I know you don't like being cooped up, but it's simply not safe for you to play out in the woods right now. Please promise me you'll stay inside until your mother or I say otherwise?"

Ginny sat back, reeling, but let the misinterpretation of her exclamation stand and tried to sound surly. "Fine."

"Oh Arthur, how can this be?" Molly fretted. "Azkaban doesn't have breakouts. It's supposed to be impossible!"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Arthur said. "The entire Auror Office has gone mental, trying to work it out. It's a mess in there, and this on top of the complete panic that's been getting on in the Goblin Liason Office all day. I still don't know what that's about."

Ginny blinked at that last, snapping out of her shock. The plan and Sirius' bomb had worked, then. Probably. And now Death Eaters had broken out of Azkaban, when they hadn't last time, but it was too soon for anything happening at Gringotts to affect something so unrelated. Something must have gone horribly wrong with Peter, and if the rat was free and in the company of Death Eaters... Grinny froze in horror as she remembered what she'd been told had happened because of Peter's escape last time. She had to talk to Dumbledore _right now_.

Ginny slid out of her seat and hurried up to her room, with Sirius on her heels.

She shut the door behind them, retrieved her wand, and cast "_Silencio!_" at two of the walls and the floor. After grabbing a coat and putting on a sturdier pair of shoes, Ginny threw her window open and climbed out onto the roof.

Sirius shifted to human and followed her through. "Of all the rotten bloody luck! I can't believe this!"

"We'll get him," Ginny growled as she yanked her coat on. "I know where they're going."

"I assume you have a plan?" Sirius asked.

Ginny nodded and closed her eyes. _Professor Dumbledore! I assume you've heard. We still have time to stop this disaster from going the way it did last time, but we have to act now. I'm going to the Riddle House in Little Hangleton. Find as many invisibility cloaks and Order members as you can and meet me there as soon as possible._ Ginny's eyes flew open and her wand rose. "_Expecto Patronum!_"

The stag rushed away like a moonlit comet. Ginny bent down and swung herself over the edge of the roof and quickly scrambled down to the garden. Sirius followed less gracefully, nearly falling on top of her. Ginny didn't even bother to make fun of him. She just hit him with a weak Banishing Charm to slow his fall and stepped out of the way.

"Ow."

"I need you to Disillusion me," Ginny muttered as Sirius picked himself up off the carrots, "and my Nimbus. Also, I don't think you should be there. At least, not as yourself. Dumbledore knows about you, but whoever he brings with him probably won't."

"Right," Sirius said, following Ginny across the yard. "What _is_ the plan?"

Ginny just pointed her redwood wand at the broom shed and cast an, "_Alohamora!_"

"Ginny?" Sirius prompted.

"Still working on the details," Ginny muttered.

* * *

There was a tension in Diagon Alley that evening. Suspicious whispers and fearful glances, with a perceptible flow to the foot-traffic, a point of disruption, that happened to be exactly where Rabastan Lestrange and his brother were headed. He tugged his hood down further over his face and nervously fingered his wand under his robes.

Gringotts loomed closer.

There was definitely something up. A decade in Azkaban may have made him jumpy, but Rabastan didn't think you could have too much paranoia when you were deep in what was currently Enemy Territory. Witches and wizards were avoiding Gringotts for some reason, and that did not bode well. The shade of the Dark Lord had commanded the two brothers to bring him the enchanted chalice he had entrusted to their vault, or die trying.

A small crowd was gathered around the steps of Gringotts, leaving a wide berth for the squad of armored goblin warriors guarding the enterance. Rabastan slowed and glanced towards Rodolphus, who met his gaze from within his hood.

"Distraction," Rabastan muttered, flicking his eyes towards the crowd.

Rodolphus nodded once and slipped away as Rabastan started pushing his way into the crowd. He quickly broke through into the open space between the wizards and the goblins. The goblins noticed him immediately and scowled fearcely.

Rabastan loomed over them. "I require access to my vault. Immediately."

"Closed," the lead goblin snapped.

"Then open," Rabastan growled, gripping his wand under his robes.

"No one gets in, wizard," the goblin insisted.

"Listen here, creature," Rabastan snarled, with righteous anger at the subhuman standing in the way of the Dark Lord's command. "I am scion of the Lestrange clan, keybearer to a blood vault, and you _will_ let me through."

"No one gets in," the goblin repeated with a sneer.

"Wait, did he say Lestrange?" one of the other goblins said suddenly. "That was the vault that was sabotaged."

Suddenly Rabastan found himself surrounded by pointed steel, but the surrounding crowd's gasp was interupted with impecable timing as several witches towards the back of the crowd screamed and started tearing at each other with their bare hands.

"Well well," the first goblin began with a feral grin, ignoring the commotion. "How convenient. How very fortuitous. Looks like the big wigs will be back in buisness by morning. Take him."

Rabastan drew his wand and leaped back, snarling, "_Avada Kadavra!_"

The lead goblin ducked, leaving the guard behind him to be struck by the spell and fall over dead. Another green bolt shot out of the crowd, followed by Rodolphus himself. Two goblins were dead, and the brothers took aim to cast again.

"_Avada Ka -_ urk!"

For a moment Rabastan was merely confused by his failure to complete his curse, but then the pain hit. He looked down and saw not one but two swordpoints protruding from his chest. Eyes widening, he tried to speak again, but produced only blood.

Rabastan heard a thud and realized he'd fallend to his knees. Something rolled across the cobblestones in front of him. His brother's severed head.

Enraged, the world snapped back into focus for him as Rabastan forced his wand arm up, but he didn't even have time to choose a spell before he saw the blade coming for his head. Goblin steel bit through his skull -

* * *

With a loud crack, Ginny apparated in the misty clouds over Little Hangleton just as the sun dipped under the horizon. Chameleon patterns of twilight sky and cloud flowed over her clothes and skin as she gripped her black and silver Nimbus and streaked downwards into clearer air, searching the tangled grid of glowing lines for the large old house overlooking a graveyard.

She turned a wide spiral, racing ahead of the few token raindrops the drab clouds were offering. Ginny's goal eluded her as she swooped over one section of town, so she apparated back into the clouds and tried again. She saw shops and houses and street after street lined with muggle cars, but it wasn't until her fourth descent that she finally spotted the graveyard and the old manor house.

Ginny streaked down out of the sky and landed lightly behind a small mausoleum some distance from the house itself.

Shouldering her broom, Ginny took a few breaths to steady herself. She looked around carefully, pacing back and forth a few times as she got a feel for the area. Looking around the spooky graveyard and up at the house in the distance, Ginny went over the timeline in her head. Wormtail finds Voldemort. Voldemort gets embodied in that reptile-infant thing. Voldemort kills a muggle called Frank Bryce and uses the murder to make Nagini into a horcrux. Voldemort sends Barty Crouch Jr...

Ginny froze in place. _Oh bloody no!_

Barty Crouch had been there before that, according to what Harry saw. In fact, Ginny had no idea when he'd actually rejoined Voldemort and Wormtail in the original timeline. _This_ time, he wasn't around to help Voldemort, but the other loyal Death Eaters _were_. Voldemort might never show up at the Riddle House at all. Had Barty participated in the creation of Voldemort's homunculus? Ginny didn't know.

Wait, she _did_ know! Barty _couldn't_ have participated in that. In the original timeline, Harry had seen Voldemort killing Frank Bryce _before_ the Quidditch World Cup where Barty broke free. This could still work. Voldemort was still likely shelter here as he had last time. More likely, since it was a much larger group that needed to hide out this time. In fact...

Ginny let out a startled breath as a new and completely insane plan bloomed in her head.

* * *

An eternity that was probably less than an hour later, Ginny heard the telltale whoosh of an arriving portkey. She faced the sound, looking hard for the slight ripples that would give away the group of wizards.

A familiar growly voice whispered out of the air. "Disillusioned girl at ten o'clock."

Ginny grinned with relief and waved, knowing Mad-eye Moody would see her just fine, as her eyes finally found the distortions outlining the group. She went forward to join them.

"Ah yes, Alastor, this would be our informant," came Dumbledore's voice. "I would kindly request that none of you inquire as to her identity at this time. I assure you she may be trusted."

Somone muttered a, "_Quietus!_"

"What're we supposed to call her, then?" asked a male voice Ginny didn't recognize.

Ginny looked around at the gathered Order members. It was much easier to see shapes under a Disillusionment Charm when one was closer to the subject of the charm than the subject was to whatever was behind them. Up close, she could dicern five distinct person-shaped outlines.

"If you must, call me Flamefeather," Ginny told them after a moment's thought. "How much do they know, Professor?"

"Only that the escaped Death Eaters are seeking to aid Voldemort, who continues to exist as a shade, and that I was tipped-off that they might be headed here," Dumbledore replied.

Ginny nodded. "Okay, at some point in the very near future, it is very likely that the escaped Death Eaters will bring Voldemort's shade here, to that house on the hill. Their purpose will be to perform a dark ritual that will give the shade of Voldemort a rudimentary physical body."

There were gasps and at least one cry of denial.

"This will happen," Ginny continued firmly. "If I'm right, it will happen _here_. If it happens here, that gives us a priceless opportunity."

"It does?"

"How?"

"To do what?" asked a voice that sounded like Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"When they complete the ritual, Voldemort will no longer be a shade. He'll be coporeal," Ginny explained. "But he'll be _weak_. Capable of some limited magic, but as physically frail as a newborn infant. He'll be _vulnerable_."

"Then what?" asked a woman's voice that Ginny thought she recognized as Emmeline Vance. "Are we supposed to try and kill him? What about his followers? _They_ won't be vulnerable."

"We fight them," Ginny said, "and no, killing the homunculus will just turn Voldemort back into a shade."

"What then is your plan, Ms. Flamefeather?" Dumbledore prompted.

"We're going to be invisible and nearby when they perfom the ritual," Ginny explained. "We're going to ambush them the moment they complete it, and hex the shit out of them. We're going to _capture Voldemort_ while he's helpless, and make sure he stays that way."

There was a moment of heavy silence.

"It's a ballsy plan, girl." Moody growled. "Even a brilliant plan, but it's bound to go horribly wrong a dozen times over. We're talking about outplaying the worst of the worst here - the sorts that Aurors have nightmares about. And that's without considering whatever surprise Voldemort pulls out of his nonexistent butt."

"That," Ginny said, "is why you're here. Why you're all here. If I thought it'd be easy, I'd just do it myself."

"Her plan has merit," Dumbledore said. "And the goal is indeed both clever and worthy. Ms. Flamefeather is correct that this is a critical opportunity. We shall refine her plan carefully, but with all due haste."

Dumbledore sent Kingsley and two other blurs off to set up warded areas for stake-outs, and began going over possible points of failure in Ginny's plan with Moody. Ginny stared off at the looming Riddle House. The knot in her gut eased, but it did not fade.

* * *

Some nights later, Harry Potter had a dream.

The room was large, old, and dusty. Cobwebs hung from the arched celling and the tall windows of the southern wall were covered by decaying curtains. A fire burned in the hearth on the wall opposite the windows. There was a man, lean and starved-looking but with a bright intensity to his eyes, sitting on the warped hardwood floor in the center of the empty room, staring into the fire.

With a series of loud cracks, the room suddenly contained three more cloaked figures, who looked around before lowering their hoods. There was a deathly pale woman with waves of dark hair who had obviously once been beautiful, though at present she appeared rather wraithish. Next to her was a short, portly, and nervous-looking man with greying whiskers. The third figure was a tall, solidly-built man with dirty blonde hair and sunken eyes.

The sitting man stood up, revealing himself to be of middling height and slight of build, but he did not turn to face the other three.

A chilling high-pitched hiss seemed to come out of the air itself. "_Report. Rookwood?_"

"We have gathered all the necessary components, my lord," the tall man answered. "We can begin the ritual upon your order."

"_Good. Begin the preparations immediately. Bella?_"

The woman licked her lips as the tall man knelt down and began removing items from his satchel.

"My lord, I've discovered the fate of my husband and his brother. My former husband, I should say," the woman reported eagerly. "It seems they were refused access to Gringotts. They struck down the goblins in their path, but were soon overwhelmed in numbers. Both died on the front steps of the bank."

There was a long angry hiss. "_Unfortunate. The point, however, will soon be moot. Whatever unseen enemy has been acting against us, they will now fail to prevent my return. Wormtail!_"

The portly man flinched terribly. "Y-yes my lord?" There was a brief silence, before Wormtail's eyes widened and he scrambled to open his own satchel. "Oh! Yes, my lord. I found her just where y-you told me to look. I brought h-her alive and unharmed, just as y-you asked."

Wormtail upended his satchel near the crackling hearth. The tangled coils of a massive unconscious snake slid out onto the floor. Wormtail scurried backwards quickly once his burden was deposited.

"_Bella, tend to Nagini. Rookwood, is it ready?_"

The tall man looked up from where he knelt. Before him sat a shallow bowl filled with blood. The freshly-removed heart of a newborn infant rested in the center of the bowl, which was surrounded by three smaller bowls, each filled with a different potion.

"It is, my lord," Rookwood reported.

"_Good. Ignite the catalysts. We shall begin immediately,_" the hiss commanded. "_Wormtail. Ensure Dolohov survives the separation._"

Wormtail nodded nervously as Rookwood waved his wand over the three smaller bowls. Each ignited in a different color, and soon columns of green, orange, and purple smoke began to entwine above the larger central bowl.

Miles and miles away, Harry Potter twitched in his sleep.

Antonin Dolohov collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, expelling gurgling breaths and drool onto the warped wooden floor as his wide eyes continued to stare unseeingly at the fire. Wormtail hurriedly propped Dolohov up and began to carefully feed him a restorative potion.

A black mist hung in the air where the man had once stood, roiling with cold anticipation. He stretched forward like a living storm front, flowing down between his loyal servants and into the nexus of three colors. Rookwood raised his wand and began a slow, measured chant. The blood below the shade began to froth. The infant's severed heart began to beat.

The world itself seemed to twist, and for a span there was nothing, not even a sense of time.

His eyes blinked open. He _had_ eyes, and the world was once again solid, rather than a wavering shadow of dream-like perception. The pain on his mind of being without form, endured so long that it seemed a very part of him, was gone. Moving was difficult. This first stage of rebirth was so small, so weak. His loyal servants towered above him. Rookwood looked pleased, as did Dolohov, who was still a bit unsteady on his feet. Wormtail was cowering, but that was only to be expected.

Bellatrix was smiling transcendently, echoes of her former beauty showing through as she knelt down to carefully lift his fragile new body from its bath of blood and bundle him in blankets. She would be the one to feed him from Nagini's venom, and she would relish in her service, he knew.

There was no warning, as the outer wall exploded and shards of glass and stone rained down on him and his Death Eaters. Bella, somehow, was still fast enough to dive to the floor and shield him with her body. Cracks of apparition sounded around the room and hidden voices screamed spells.

"_Stupefy!_" A man. "_Stupefy!_" A woman. "_Bombarda!_" Another man, deeper of voice. "_Sectumsempra!_" A child? "_Confringo!_" Fucking Alastor Moody?

Abhorrent _fear_ and burning _rage_ flooded his mind. The Order. How had they found him here? How had they found him _now_?

Dolohov dropped immediately to a stunner, but Rookwood had shielded and Wormtail had transformed. The rat dodged through shrapnel as a chunk of wall exploded. Even as that was happening, Bella came through for him yet again and slipped his wand into his feeble, scaled hand.

His hand moved, his magic flowed, and five Disillusionment Charms were broken. Five voices gasped in pain as the assailants were revealed. It had cost him, though. His present form was weakened even beyond its ordinary frailty, and he would not have the strength for more magic any time soon.

Bellatrix scooped him up and held him to her chest as she leaped to her feet and revived Dolohov in one elegant move. "Fight or flee, my lord?"

"Oh no you don't!" a young girl with red hair snarled viciously at the fleeing rat. "_Imponere Verafigurax!_"

"_Crucio!_" Rookwood returned fire at the large black man in Auror robes.

"Flee," he hissed to Bella, though he could clearly feel the anti-apparition ward they were under.

Wormtail, suddenly a man again, hit the floor face-first and slid into a wall with a meaty thud. The child leaped after him with an unsettling intensity, screaming, "_Secoflamus!_" A blade of fire smashed through Wormtails right arm, leaving a cauterized stump.

Sturgis Podmore fell with a choking scream as one of Rookwood's spells got through. Mad-eye Moody flung three different curses at Rookwood in quick succession, drawing the former Unspeakable into a fearce, wordless battle.

Wormtail lost a leg to another "_Secoflamus!_"

Bellatrix flicked a silent Blood-Boiling Curse at the child, but the flame-haired girl dodged and returned fire without even moving her feet. Bellatrix deflected the girl's Reductor Curse but had to dodge two more hexes from two other directions as Shacklebolt fired on her and a curse from Moody went astray.

Dolohov, up on one knee after Bellatrix's Ennervate, deflected another stunner from Emmeline Vance and cast, "_Avada Kedavra!_" Vance dodged, but lost her footing and went down hard.

Shacklebolt dashed sideways to get a clear shot and cried, "_Bombarda!_" Dolohov fell in an explosion of blood.

Bellatrix turned to run, to take her Dark Lord to safety while Rookwood held off the remaining Order. She spun, slipped inside the guard of the black Auror, dropped him with a fast, "_Crucio!_" and she was passed.

"No! Stop her!" the child screeched. "_Impedimenta! Impedimenta!_"

Bellatrix deflected the first one, but the little girl was frighteningly fast and had perfect aim. Bellatrix tried to bend out of the way but the jinx grazed her leg and she stumbled. Her shoulder smashed into the frame of the doorway she had been running at. The impact spun her around, and in assuring that she didn't drop the bundle that contained her Dark Lord, she tripped and landed on her back.

The little girl with hair like fire sprinted across the room, ducking and weaving under and around flying curses from friend and foe alike as Moody and Vance fought Rookwood. "_Expelliarmus!_"

The faint bolt of reddish-gold got through an instant before Bellatrix could get her wand up to deflect it, but it wasn't _her_ wand that flew towards the child, it was _his_. The child's eyes widened. Bellatrix aimed.

"_Crucio!_" And the child screamed.

There was a clap of fire, a trill of pheonix song, and suddenly Dumbledore was in the room.

"Retreat!" he hissed desperately.

Dumbledore moved, and a wave of power crashed down on everything like the wrath of Merlin. Everything went abruptly quiet.

Rookwood crumpled to the floor. Bellatrix found herself paralyzed as an irresistable force drew her up and towards Dumbledore. He couldn't let it end like this. With what little strength he'd managed to rebuild in his tiny reptilian body, he broke the spell on Bellatrix, and felt himself pulled from her grasp.

Bellatrix, thankfully, immediately obeyed his last order and bolted, dropping an, "_Expulso!_" behind her as she dove through the shattered windows and into the night. The little red-haired girl staggered to her feet while everyone else was still reeling from the explosion and hurled a silent curse after Bellatrix, but his best and most loyal servant was already gone.

Ginny Weasley turned to look at him, and his heart swelled in agony.

Miles and miles away, Harry Potter woke with a start.

* * *

"Well that wasn't exactly the plan," Kingsley commented.

"We didn't have time to get in position once they started," Ginny said shakily. "We got him, didn't we?"

A scalely red _thing_ floated, unconsious, inside a sparkling cage of light at the end of Dumbledore's wand. "Indeed we did. Are you quite alright, Ms. Flamefeather?"

Ginny slumped against the wall between two blown-in windows, and forced her shaking hands to still. "Just a few seconds of Cruciatus and magical exhaustion. I'll be fine."

Dumbledore nodded. "Emmeline? Do you need assistance with Sturgis?"

"I'd like to get him to a Healer at some point," the blonde woman replied, "but I've dispelled the Strangulation Hex and he seems stable."

Kingsley peered at the sleeping shell of Voldemort within Dumbledore's spellwork. "What do we do with him now that we've got him?"

"I am pondering that, myself," Dumbledore admitted.

Ginny hadn't thought that far ahead either. "What _can_ we do with him?"

"Draught of Living Death," Moody suggested. "Brew up enough to fill a whole vat or a fishtank or something, and chuck him in. Could keep him trapped for decades that way."

"Hmm," Dumbledore said. "Yes, that would work, I believe."

Ginny suddenly had a thought. "Wait. Before we do anything, we should call the Aurors. They need to see this."

"I'm not sure that would be wise," Dumbledore began.

"As many Aurors as possible need to see this," Ginny insisted, gesturing to the destroyed room and fallen bodies around them. "And every Auror we can reach, needs to see _this_."

Ginny pushed away from the wall and stalked over to the maimed body of Peter Pettigrew. The traitor was missing both legs and his right arm. He was passed out from shock, but amazingly he was still alive. Ginny bent down and pulled his head around so his face was visible. She shoved him all the way onto his back and yanked the sleeve away from his intact left arm.

"Peter Pettigrew," Ginny said coldly, "with a Dark Mark on his arm."

"Peter Petti - you mean _the_ Peter Pettigrew, the one who died?" Kingsley exclaimed.

"Obviously, he didn't," Ginny said.

"Merlin's bollocks!" Emmeline gasped. "It _is_ him. But if he's - then what does that mean for - "

"Sirius Black," Kingsley finished softly

"Hmmph," Moody chuckled, pointing at the traitor's missing limbs. "You did that on purpose, didn't you? You knew it was him in advance, so you cut him to pieces, but left him alive with his one important limb intact, deliberately. Oh, I like your style, girl. Reminds me of a man I knew once..."

Moody was giving her a _very_ piercing look.

"The girl is not Sirius Black in disguise, Alastor," Dumbledore said.

Ginny blinked. Oh hell, she hadn't even thought of that one. Leave it to Mad-eye to jump to paranoid conclusions and land dangerously close to the truth. She wasn't Sirius, but she _was_ in league with Sirius.

"Right," Moody said with an evil grin. "Sure. If you say so. I agree with the little waif, though. We ought to get every Auror who was anywhere near Sirius Black's arrest down here to see Pettigrew with their own eyes."

Dumbledore sighed. "Perhaps you're right. Very well. Kingsley, if you would."

Ginny took a moment to absorb the fact that it was over. She'd done it. Voldemort was neutralized and Harry was safe. Okay, so Bellatrix Lestrange was still running around out there. That would probably become a problem at some point. Today, though - today she could honestly say... _Mission Fucking Acomplished._

Ginny smiled, and went home.


	16. Escalation

**~Escalation~**

In the quiet of the pre-dawn darkness, Harry Potter lay awake in his four-poster bed, ignoring the soft snores of his fellow first-year Gryffindors.

He turned the dream he'd just woken from over and over in his mind, trying to make sense of it. It had been so vivid, and it hadn't felt like a dream at all. When he found himself in that place with Voldemort's people, it had felt like waking up from his previous dream - something simple and silly he couldn't remember at all, now.

Harry had been small and weak in the dream, protected by that strange ghastly woman - _dear Bellatrix_ - when they'd been attacked. Despite his helplessness, he'd been giving commands and issuing orders and that hadn't seemed odd at the time, as though it was taken for granted that he was in charge and would be obeyed.

The most disturbing part was at the end when Ginny had been there, and when she'd looked at him, he'd had nothing but cold malice in his heart for her, and that had felt so incredibly wrong that it had jolted him awake. That part bothered him more than any of the rest. He didn't want to feel things like that about Ginny. The very idea that some part of him hated her made his chest cramp and put a lump in his throat.

Harry tried to dismiss it as just the weird randomness of dreams and get back to sleep, but that last moment simply refused to leave his thoughts.

* * *

Ginny apparated behind the broom shed at the Burrow. A sudden pain made her stumble and she had to catch the corner of the shed with a trembling hand to steady herself. Several pieces of her shoes and the back of her coat were missing, along with one of her toenails if the pain and bloodstain spreading over her sock was any indication.

Ginny stared with wide eyes. She'd _splinched_ herself. That _never_ happened to her! Not even the very first time she'd tried to apparate. Apparently, magical exhaustion and Cruciatus exposure was really not a good combination for being in a fit state to apparate. She hadn't felt _that_ bad a moment ago, but then, apparating is a rather significant drain on a child's magic reserves. Enough to push her over the edge from fatigued to crippled.

Grunting in annoyance at herself, Ginny tried to shake off the swooning dizziness and made for the trellis under her window. The pain of her splinched toenail kept her lucid, but her whole body was trembling and her legs were barely obeying her will.

She stumbled through the carrot patch and all but collapsed against the trellis, muscles shaking with weakness. Slowly, one hold at a time, Ginny inched upwards with her teeth clenched.

An eternity and a half later, Ginny reached her window and tumbled through. She caught the frame at the foot of her bed with badly shaking arms, body horizontal with her legs still sticking out the window. With a great cry of exertion, she dragged herself the rest of the way in and onto the mattress.

Ginny lay on her side, panting, her head spinning, and her gut cramping with nausea.

A short while after the room stopped swaying and lurching, Ginny managed to crawl up to her pillow. It was another ordeal to get her jeans off, and when she did she found her knickers smeared with blood.

Ginny stared in disbelief. "Well that is sodding good timing, isn't it."

There was a scrabbling sound at her door. Sirius must have heard her come in. She had to get up anyway - she didn't have enough magic left to take care of her first monthly with the charms, just then. Ginny forced her trembling self vertical through sheer determination, and staggered across -

Seventy pounds of unconscious girl hit the rug with a thud.

* * *

Sirius was about to go spare when he finally heard movement in Ginny's room. Had her plan worked? Was she unharmed? Had anybody died? He hadn't been able to sit still since she'd got the patronus and ran off, promising to get Peter with something nasty for him.

He was half furious about having to stay out of the raid, but he'd acknowledged Ginny's reasoning. They couldn't count on a disguise holding up, not even polyjuice since it might take more than an hour and Mad-Eye would already be suspicious. His presence might distract the Order at the wrong moment and ruin the whole plan. It was a small risk, but Ginny was right about absolutely having to get it right on the first try.

Sirius bounded up the stairs and scratched at Ginny's door.

A disturbing thud answered.

Sirius scratched harder at the door, more than a little worry gnawing at his gut. He listened hard but didn't hear any movement. Hurrying back to the stairs, he peered down to make sure Molly was occupied. She was in the sitting room reading a magazine, and appeared rather absorbed.

Returning to Ginny's room, Sirius shifted forms and let himself in.

"Ginny?" he called in a strained whisper.

Sirius was sure his heart stopped when he spotted her sprawled half-naked on the floor with blood on her legs. Swearing under his breath, Sirius rushed to make sure she was breathing. Thankfully, her breath and pulse were nearly normal, but she barely reacted at all when he tried to shake her awake.

Calming down a bit, he turned her over to check for injuries and got a clearer look at _where_ she was bloody. The blood from her missing toenail had made it look like she was bleeding a lot more than she actually was when he first saw her, but it was only a bit on her foot and on her thighs and knickers.

_Oh hell._

Sirius sat back on his hanches with a groan. After a moment, he tried to shake Ginny awake again. All he got was a small twitch of her face. That probably meant she'd be okay and wasn't in a coma or anything like that, he thought, but he couldn't leave her bleeding on the floor even if it wasn't life-threatening.

With a glance around, Sirius stood and pulled his wand. He hovered Ginny onto her bed as gently as he could, and cast an, "_Exuviate!_" on her toe. It didn't regrow the nail, but it ought to keep it from bleeding any more.

Sirius shut the door as he left the room and shifted back to dog. He trotted downstairs to Molly and tugged on her sleeve with a whine. Molly blinked and looked over her magazine.

"You need something, boy?" she asked, scratching him under the chin.

Catching her sleeve in his teeth again, Sirius responded with another little whine as he tugged on her. He let go and trotted to the foot of the staircase, looking back at her as he pawed at the steps.

"What is it, boy?" Molly wondered.

With another whine, Sirius got her to follow him. He led her to Ginny's door and scratched at it like he was trying to get in. Molly took the hint and went in to check on Ginny. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.

Molly didn't waste time checking Ginny over when attempts to wake her produced only faint moans. She clucked and waved her wand a few times, frowning at the results but looking confused more than worried. She summoned a chair and sat herself down beside Ginny's bed.

"He must have smelled the blood and gone for help," Molly murmured. "Smart boy. Good boy."

Molly sat with her daughter for the rest of the night, and in the morning Sirius stuck around just long enough for Ginny to silently mouth, "we won," at him when Molly wasn't looking. before Ginny settled in to endure The Talk with a stoic mortification.

* * *

That afternoon, Ginny found Sirius in the woods. He was lounging under their favorite tree, tossing and catching an acorn. He gave Ginny an evil grin when she jogged up.

"Don't even start," Ginny warned.

Sirius' grin got bigger. "But this is a momentous occasion! Today, you took your first steps into the wide wonderful world of puberty! You know you can count on me to fill you in if you have any _questions_ about what to do with your new naughty sweaty feelings. Your mum may have left a few things out about what can go where."

"Oh come on," Ginny exclaimed. "I was friends with Hermione Granger _and_ Luna Lovegood. I probably know more about the mechanics and anatomy than _you_ do."

"Ah but I have _experience_," Sirius teased.

Ginny smirked. "It doesn't count if you can't remember it."

"Pfft," Sirius waved her off. "I'll have you know I was usually perfectly sober, and so were they."

Ginny put on a nostalgic expression. "You know, some of Hermione and Luna's best arguments about what was gross and what was anatomically impossible involved large amounts of butterbeer."

"Is it even possible to drink enough butterbeer to get drunk?" Sirius mused.

"What, the marauders never tried to find that out?" Ginny teased.

"It's almost too bad," Sirius said. "You'll completely miss out on the fun of figuring out which lies your mum told you to scare you off the boys."

"I'll have you know my mum was perfectly straight with me," Ginny insisted.

"Oh, so she told you all about how you can - "

Ginny interrupted, "If you're so intent on going on about this, you _must_ not want to know what I did to Peter..."

Sirius shut up.

* * *

Harry was sure something was up. Dumbledore had been missing from the great hall during meals all day, and the other teachers seemed anxious about something, especially the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin. Hermione had noticed too, which is how he knew he wasn't imagining things.

The next morning at breakfast, dozens of owls dropped off copies of the _Daily Prophet_. Students gasped and the murmur of the great hall noticably changed in tone. A ways down the table, Neville let out a dismayed shriek.

Ron, with Fred and George's help, managed to get Percy's copy away from him.

**ESCAPED DEATH EATERS BATTLE AURORS  
****BELLATRIX LESTRANGE STILL AT LARGE****  
**

Harry felt a chill run down his spine when he saw the photos, and read about the battle. There was no mention of Voldemort himself, and there were other details and people from his dream that weren't in the article, but there wasn't anything or anyone in the article that he hadn't seen in his dream.

Harry flipped back to the beginning of the story and scanned. "When did this happen? Does it say?"

There was a sudden crunch of breaking dishes. Harry looked up in time to see Neville _stalking_ out of the great hall, his face a rictus of rage. It was such a startling transformation from the normal, nervous Neville, Harry was struck speechless.

"What's gotten into him?" Ron wondered.

"Harry, here," Hermione said. "It says the raid took place before dawn yesterday morning. Why did you wan to know?"

"Huh? Oh right." Harry took the paper and gulped. That was right when he'd had his dream.

Hermione looked concerned. "Harry, what is it?"

Harry shook his head. "I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

* * *

"Still nothing about me in the news?" Sirius asked that weekend.

"No, still nothing," Ginny sighed.

Sirius' wand flicked out and put a new crater in the snow. "Damnit."

"It's not all bad." Ginny patted his shoulder. "Last time, the _Prophet_ and the Ministry were trumpeting your wanted criminal status all over the country, even to the muggles."

Sirius frowned thoughtfully. "But they've known my cell is empty for days now, and there hasn't been a single word about me."

"You think that means they've figured out the truth?" Ginny pondered. "They could still be trying to figure out how to save face over the whole thing - hey is that Hedwig?"

The white owl swooped down and Ginny held out an arm for her. It was a letter from Harry. Ginny pulled an owl treat out of her pocket and traded Hedwig for the letter with a fond smile.

Dear Ginny, ... ... ... ... ...  
This is going to sound completely  
bonkers, but I talked to Dumbledore  
and he didn't tell me much but he  
does say what I saw was really real.  
But it can't be, unless - oh right,  
I haven't said what I saw yet. It  
sounds bonkers even to me, but  
a few days ago I dreamed about a  
battle in an old manor house.  
It was not like a regular dream at all.  
It was a big fight against death eaters.  
Dumbledore was there, and a man  
with a magical eye called Moody, and  
you. I saw you there, and I  
Were you really there?  
That's probably stupid. I'm sorry if  
this is ridiculous, and you probably  
think I've lost it now, but please, I need  
to know. How can that be real?  
Harry... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Ginny?" Sirius probed. "What is it? You look sad."

"Harry saw the whole thing, the fight against the death eaters, he saw it through his connection to Voldemort," Ginny explained. "The horcrux in his head."

"We've got time to figure that out, now," Sirius said. "We'll find a way to save him, eventually. Voldemort isn't going anywhere, right?"

Ginny nodded. "But Harry saw _me_ fighting with the others. I've got to do something about that, but I don't know what. Aaagh! Maybe I should just tell him the truth. Am I being selfish?"

"You want Harry to decide that he fancies you before he finds out that you were together last time, right?" Sirius asked. "Do you really think that will matter more to him than you not telling him about coming back in time at all?"

"I am being selfish," Ginny sighed. "I'm terrified that telling him about us too soon will scare him off, but that is selfish. Harry hates being kept in the dark."

Sirius looked at her curiously. "That mean you're going to tell him everything after all?"

"I'm..." Ginny nodded with determination. "I'm going to tell him as much as he needs me to. No matter how much that is."

"You gonna write back, now?" Sirius asked.

Ginny considered. "No, I need to talk to him. I need to see him."

* * *

With an echoing snap of displaced air, Ginny apparated inside the tunnel between Honeyduke's and Hogwarts. She didn't even crack her head on anything this time. She tapped herself with her wand, having finally mastered the Disillusionment Charm, and set off up the tunnel with her Nimbus on her shoulder.

It was late evening, around when she hoped Harry would be turning in for the night, so she could find him easily.

When she got to the castle, she mounted her broom and flew down to the nearest corridor that was open to the outside. Ginny banked between the stone arches, soaring out over the grounds before looping back to Gryffindor tower.

Once she found the right window, she hovered up and tapped it with her wand, "_Alohamora!_"

She slipped inside as quietly as she could and shut the window behind her. Ginny checked to make sure she was still more or less invisible, and settled into a corner by Harry's bed to wait. Dean and Seamus came in first, and were already asleep by the time Harry and Ron showed up. They were half-carrying an exhausted Neville. Ginny wondered what that was about.

Ginny waited until everyone's bedcurtains were closed before she moved, pointing her wand and whispering, "_Muffliato!_"

Carefully lifting Harry's bedcurtains, Ginny climbed inside and perched over Harry's feet. His eyes were closed, but she thought he was still awake. Ginny tapped herself with her wand, and became fully visible.

"Harry," Ginny called softly as she crawled forward.

Harry's eyes snapped open as she loomed over him. "Glaah!"

Ginny winced, ducking back as he flailed in surprise. "Harry, it's me, Ginny."

He focused on her in the dimness. "Ginny? Wha...?"

"I got your letter," Ginny said.

Harry blinked. "And you - what are you doing here?" Harry looked around and Ginny was pretty sure he blushed. "You're - why are you in my _bed_? _How_ are you in my bed?"

"I didn't want us to be interrupted," Ginny said reasonably, "and I didn't think a letter would be good enough, so I came here to talk to you."

"How did you _get_ here?" Harry demanded.

"I apparated," Ginny said. "I can do that, you know."

"I thought only grownups could apparate," Harry questioned.

"Well, usually that's true," Ginny said. "It's a secret that I know how. I could get in trouble if you tell anyone."

"I won't," Harry promised. "I just want to know what's going on. You, er, said you read my letter?"

Ginny plopped down beside him, bracing her head on her hand. "I _know_ you're not bonkers, Harry. Don't worry."

"So, what I saw," Harry said slowly. "It was real? You were fighting Voldemort with the grownups?"

"I was," Ginny confirmed.

Harry sat up and looked down at her. "What... what are you?" Harry flushed. "I don't - I just mean - "

Ginny sat up and faced him, hands in her lap. "I'm a girl with a secret. A big secret. A ginormous secret."

"That you're some kind of secret super-witch?" Harry guessed.

Ginny shook her head. "It's _why_ I know so much magic already that's the _big_ secret."

"Does that mean you're not going to tell me?" Harry asked.

Ginny was quiet for a moment. "I want to tell you. I want to tell you everything. But I'm afraid that if I do, afterwards, you will wish I hadn't. What if there are parts of this secret that you regret knowing?"

"It'd be worse not knowing," Harry said stubbornly, then he paused. "Is your secret really so terrible?"

Ginny turned and flopped back onto Harry's pillow, staring at the bed's canopy. "It's not the terrible parts I'm worried about, Harry."

After a moment, Harry followed her lead and joined her laying down. Ginny waited until he settled before she moved her shoulder against him and twined her arm around his. She felt him slowly relax as he tilted his head towards her and his leg moved to touch hers, and smiled.

"What _are_ the parts you're worried about, then?" Harry asked.

Ginny opened her mouth to answer, then grunted in frustration. "This would be so much easier if you'd already..."

Harry looked at her. "Already what?"

Ginny considered. "Harry? Do you trust me? Think about it for a second and tell me honestly."

"I... yeah. I guess I do," Harry said after a few moments.

Ginny turned onto her side and put her hand over Harry's heart. "There's something you might do. A choice you have to make. A choice _you_ have to make, about yourself. I can't tell you what it is, until you make it, but once you do, I _will_ tell you everything."

"What? Ginny, that doesn't make any sense," Harry complained.

"Maybe," Ginny admitted. "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe once you learn the whole story you'll think I'm being silly. But I think you really might not."

"So you're not going to tell me," Harry grumbled.

"That's up to you, Harry," Ginny said, surprising him. "If you really can't stand not knowing, I'll tell you the whole thing right now, but if you can stand to wait to know, I'm guess I'm asking you to do that for me."

Harry was quiet for a while. "Alright. I'll trust you. You don't have to tell me now."

Ginny smiled with relief. "_Thank you_."

Harry nodded, breaking out in a huge yawn. "So, er, the fight, the one I dreamed about, but was real. I woke up right after Bellatrix escaped. Can you tell me what happened?"

Ginny suddenly gasped, realizing that she _could_ tell Harry about Sirius, now. She grinned widely. "Oh yeah. I can tell you _all_ about that."

She started with Voldemort's capture and the decided method of imprisonment, and moved on to the defeated Death Eaters, particularly Wormtail, as a way of segueing into talking about the Marauders. She told the story of Sirius' so-called betrayal, and the revelation that Sirius was framed.

"Wait, so you're saying I would have been raised by my dad's best friend if not for Pettigrew? I take back what I was thinking. You didn't hurt him too much."

She told him more about Sirius and about how she'd known for a while that Sirius was framed - though how she knew was part of the secret - and how she'd been helping Sirius for a while.

"Hold the phone!" Harry exclaimed. "Your dog, you call him Padfoot, and he's big and black, and..." Harry trailed off looking stunned as Ginny nodded with a grin.

"Sirius really wants to meet you properly," Ginny said. "And, if the Ministry ever gets off their arses about clearing his name, I know for a fact that he wants to give you a home."

Harry was trying not to let on that he was a little choked up as he said, "That would be good."

* * *

"Hey, Sirius, didn't you used to have a pair of charmed mirrors of some sort...?"

* * *

It was a week later when Bellatrix made her move.

Bellatrix apparated outside the Hogwarts wards and stared up at the luminous castle in the distance. She was sure Dumbledore wouldn't let the Dark Lord out of his presence. For all his talk, Dumbledore was too smart to trust anyone else with something so important. Her lord would be hidden in the castle, she was sure of it.

Making no sound, speaking no spell, Bellatrix merely pointed her wand at the ground before the low stone fence the marked the ward boundry. Soil and rock roiled as a crater slowly opened, expanding down into a tunnel that stretched under the wall, and under the ward boundry.

Bellatrix clawed her way through the narrow earthen passage, punching upwards onto the Hogwarts grounds with a jab of her wand that blew clumps of grass into the air.

She stared up at the castle, cackling softly. As her dark lord's most faithful, she was blessed with secrets he had shared with no other. Her tattered clothing began to billow around her body as her feet lifted from the ground. She slowly drifted upwards, basking in the power of a secret shared only between her and her dark lord.

Forty feet off the ground, Bellatrix faced the distant Great Hall with an expression of terrible enthusiasm on her face, and shot off through the air. She flew in a wide arc around the Great Hall. The great windows were brightly lit, and the Hall was filled with students eating dinner.

Bellatrix swooped towards the large arched windows overlooking the staff table, brought her wand up in front of her mouth, and breathed out a single eldritch syllable. Stained glass shattered as creatures wrought of cursed fire surged down into a mass of screaming panic.

Bellatrix didn't even glance backwards as she shot over the castle and the screams faded behind her. A stream of several _Confringo!_ blew apart the outer stone walls of the Headmaster's tower, opening the way into Dumbledore's inner sanctum.

* * *

Harry gasped in pain as he tried to rise from where he'd tackled Hermione. Blood was soaking into his robes from his shoulder and thigh where jagged shards of glass had embedded themselves. Hermione screamed and pulled him up as a great beast of solid fire landed on the Gryffindor table with enough force to crack the wood. Harry staggered away with Hermione's help, fleeing the searing heat.

Harry was too occupied to really look, but he thought he saw Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Lupin up and casting. A scarcely-recognizale Neville was dragging a badly burned Lavender Brown away from the advancing fire beast. Ron popped out from under the table and rushed over to help.

They made it to the entrance hall, and Harry collapsed despite Hermione doing her best to hold him up, jarring the shards of glass stuck in his skin and making him gasp in pain. Harry watched Neville and Ron hand Lavender off to Pavarti and an older Ravenclaw. Neville looked back into the great hall, his eyes went wide, and he ran back in. A moment later, Neville and a bleeding Hannah Abbot came back dragging an unconscious Slytherin prefect.

The professors seemed to be getting the upper hand over the terrible fire beasts, and as soon as that was apparent, more students dared the battlefield to drag out the injured.

* * *

Bellatrix was getting desperate. Dumbledore's office was a maze of traps and wards that seemed more designed to taunt and annoy potential thieves than identify or capture them, but her dark lord's prison remained elusive. She knew Dumbledore had to already know what she was doing. As soon as he defeated her Fiendfyre he would come, and if she was captured that would be the end. She was the only hope left.

The bright fire of a phoenix burst into being, and Bellatrix didn't even glance at it before she spun and dove out of the tower.

She fired a chain of cushioning charms at the ground. The layered charms absorbed most of her momentum, but she still bounced a good two-hundred feet, which gave her time to align her magic and regain the power of flight.

Bellatrix shot off towards the ward boundary, screaming in grief and rage at her failure.

* * *

"Over a hundred students injured, thirty-one students with cursed burns that may take months to heal. The hospital wing is over capacity, and that's not counting the worst cases who were already sent to St. Mungo's."

* * *

With the shattered windows and burnt stone lending ominousness, Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat. "As you will all be aware, our school recently came under assault." There was a pause. "The Ministry of Magic has assigned some of the dementors of Azkaban to patrol the boundaries of Hogwarts. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises - or even Invisibility Cloaks."

A certain trio of first-years shared a look.

"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses," Dumbledore continued. "I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you, and do whatever you must to stay out of their way. I look to the prefects, and our Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors."

Dumbledore paused, the students all watching him in the silence. "I am also sad to say, that Professor Kettleburn passed away last night, overcome by his burns. Starting next week, Care of Magical Creatures for fifth years and seventh years will be taught by our own Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties. Unfortunately, the other years of Care of Magical Creatures classes will not be held for the remainder of this term."

* * *

"Damn damn damn damn damn. Damn!"

Ginny paced, boots crunching in the snow, while Sirius sat on a root under their favorite tree, holding his two-way mirror. Harry watched her pace through the mirror, looking concerned, while Sirius looked amused.

"It wasn't all that bad, Ginny," Harry said. "No one even died, except Professor Kettleburn."

Ginny stopped and fell to her knees in front of the mirror, grabbing it from Sirius' hand. "I'm glad, Harry, but I've seen Fiendfyre. I know how bad it could've been. Damn!" Ginny smacked a snowdrift.

"It was a close call, Ginny, but everything's still okay, right?" Sirius said. "What are we gonna do to keep it that way? Maybe I could head to Hogwarts in case Bella tries aga - "

"No!" Ginny and Harry cried at the same time. "Sirius, the dementors!" Harry continued. "What if they, I dunno, recognize you?"

"Okay, okay, it was just a suggestion," Sirius grumbled. "I was kind of hoping to sneak onto the grounds to watch your next Quidditch match, honestly."

Harry grinned. "Thanks, Sirius, but it's not worth..."

Sirius nodded, and Ginny sat down next to him and angled the mirror towards her.

Be careful during your next match, Harry," Ginny said. "A big excited crowd will draw dementors like flies to honey. Do _not_ trust the Ministry's promise that they'll behave. If you start to feel the dementor's chill, fly towards the teachers as soon as you can. Okay?"

* * *

That warning ended up saving Harry another stay in the hospital wing. He didn't know what would have happened if Ginny hadn't been looking out for him. Even with the warning...

So that was why he stayed after Defense class to talk to Professor Lupin about dementors.

"There is a spell," Professor Lupin relented, "but it isn't something I would expect a first-year to be capable of, even a first-year of your remarkable talent, Harry."

When Lupin had taken over the class after Qurrel's possession-by-dark-lord, it had been a pleasant surprise to discover that, with a good teacher, Harry was _really good_ at Defense Against The Dark Arts. Most of the spells were nearly effortless to learn, he found the tactics very intuitive, and facts about the dark creatures and their weaknesses seemed to just stick in his brain all on their own. He was still amazed that he was actually doing better than Hermione at something other than riding a broom.

None of that did anything to make him feel better about the dementors, though. The evil things were deadly, cripplingly terrifying, and at the same time dangerously seductive. It was horrible watching his parents die, but they had died loving him and it was the only memory of his parents he had. The scariest thing about the dementors was that there was a small part of him that wanted more of that memory.

"Please," Harry said desperately. "Let me try. The dementors... I need... Just let me try. Please."

Professor Lupin softened. "Alright. Come to my office this weekend, and we'll see, but try not to get your hopes up, Harry."

* * *

Harry, Hermione, and Ron clustered around the charmed mirror.

"Guys, this is Sirius," Harry introduced, "my godfather. Sirius? This is Hermione and Ron."

* * *

"Still nothing?" Ginny asked.

"Still nothing," Sirius said. "No _Sirius Black Escaped and Dangerous_, no _Sirius Black Wrongfully Imprisoned_, no anything. Has Arthur said anything?"

"Not exactly," Ginny said, "but Dad has mentioned enough little things that _something_ unusual has to be going on in the DMLE, but that might just be about the hunt for Bellatrix."

"How long are they going to pretend like I never existed?" Sirius wondered.

No answer was forthcoming.


	17. Summer

**~Summer~**

Spring passed with little fanfare. Harry got to know Sirius and to chat with Ginny through the mirrors. The dementors loomed, a constant reminder of the threat of Bellatrix, but that faded into the background. Harry hadn't quite managed a coporeal patronus yet, but he could reliably conjure up a thick glowing mist. The ministry continued to ignore Sirius, but with a little brainstorming, research, and help from Hemione, Sirius had bought a small muggle house in Ottery St. Catchpole back at the start of spring. He still spent a lot of time being Padfoot the Weasley Dog, but had grown tired of living like that full time.

"I wish I could be there when you get off the train, Harry," Sirius said through the mirror.

Harry smiled. "It's okay, Sirius, really. I know it's still probably too risky to let yourself be seen in the wizarding world."

"Well, we're definitely getting you down here for a visit just as soon as we possibly can," Sirius said. "Reflect me as soon as you get back to Petunia's and I'll come collect you, right?"

Harry winced. "Ah, actually, I don't think I can."

Sirius briefly looked hurt.

"I want to! Visiting you instead of staying with the Dursley's would be brilliant," Harry continued. "But, er, Professor Dumbledore came to talk to me a few days ago. He was dropping hints left and right - I'm sure he knows about you. He told me, well I don't remember exactly what he said, but he told me that if I left the Dursley's before my birthday, um, it was something about protective magic that depended on calling Aunt Petunia's home, my home. I think."

"Ah, well, nothing for it then," Sirius sighed. "But you keep your mirror close, you hear? And I'll make sure I'm around so Ginny and Ron can reflect you through mine."

Harry grinned. "Thanks, Sirius."

* * *

Ginny was embarrassingly anxious as she waited with her mum and dad on Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters. She got to talk to Harry through Sirius' mirror, but it was just too much of a risk to sneak into Hogwarts to see him in person, without a pressing reason. It had been months since she'd had a chance to touch him.

The train pulled to a stop and students poured off. Ron, who was the tallest of the trio, spotted his mum and led Harry and Hermione over. Molly immediately hugged Ron.

Ginny grinned at Harry and resisted the urge to tackle him. She just took a step forward and slid her arms under his and held him close without jostling him. Harry's reaction was delayed a few seconds, while his mind reacclimated to the unfamiliar fact of intimacy, but Harry quickly melted and returned her embrace. Ginny could tell it was getting easier for him, though.

"Mum," Ron complained half-heartedly.

"Hi Ginny," Harry said with a grin.

Ginny pulled back, smiling at him for a long moment. "It's too bad you can't come home with us."

Harry shrugged, looking resigned. "It'll be fine." Harry smirked. "You know, Hagrid had a good idea. I know I'm not allowed to use magic out of school, but the Dursleys don't, and there's nothing that says I have to tell them."

By then, Fred and George had shown up, and were busy aggravating their mother. The group made their way out into King's Cross, where Hermione ran to hug her own parents. Ginny watched with Ron as Harry left with his uncle. Harry glanced back, and the expression that flickered across his face made Ginny's heart break just a little.

Ginny's fist clenched.

* * *

Harry dragged his school trunk in through the front door. Hedwig hooted indignantly as Harry almost dropped her cage. Uncle Vernon shut the front door and snatched the cage out of Harry's hands.

"Hey!" Harry protested.

"I will not be having any of that unnaturalness in my house!" Vernon snarled.

Uncle Vernon pulled a padlock out of a coat pocked and snapped it shut through the wires of Hedwig's cage. Harry watched helplessly as his uncle shoved his school trunk into the cupboard under the stairs and shut another padlock through the doorlatch.

The two-way mirror had been in Harry's trunk. Listlessly, Harry carried Hedwig up to his room.

* * *

Ginny apparated outside the front gates of Hogwarts. Fortunately, the dementors were also gone for the summer, and if her own mother was anything to go by, parental outrage would keep them from being allowed back when school started in the fall.

_Professor, I am outside the front gates. I would like to speak with you._ Ginny concentrated. "_Expecto Patronum!_"

After a few minutes, Dumbledore apparated with a quiet pop. "Ah, hello Miss Weasley. I was just on my way to Hogsmede. Shall we take a stroll?"

"Yes sir," Ginny agreed, putting the hood of her sweatshirt up.

"So, what's on your mind, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Sir..." Ginny hesitated. "Sir, I don't think sending Harry back to the Dursley's was the right thing to do."

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "It is, unfortunately, necessary for his safety. There is an old magic - "

"The blood protections that depend on him living with his Aunt, yes, I know," Ginny said.

"Yes, I suppose you would," Dumbledore said genially. "So you can see why Harry must continue to call that place home."

Ginny nodded. "Yes, but, the thing is, last time around Harry went back to the Dursley's every summer all six years he went to Hogwarts. It never seemed to do him any good.."

Dumbledore frowned consideringly.

"Maybe I'm missing something, but it never seemed like Harry was any safer at the Dursley's than he was with us at the Burrow, or with Sirius, or even at Hogwarts," Ginny continued. "Before his second year, he was assaulted by a rogue house elf, hurt by his uncle, and would have starved in his room if my brothers hadn't rescued him. Before his third year, he was nearly run over by the Knight Bus, and would have died if Sirius hadn't startled him out of the way, and Sirius himself could have killed Harry right then and there if he were actually the criminal everyone thought he was. And worst of all, before Harry's fifth year, he and his cousin were attacked and nearly kissed by a pair of dementors!"

Ginny's voice had risen a bit by the end of that, and she took a breath to calm herself. "Frankly sir, even if the blood protections make it impossible for Death Eaters to find him there, on the balance, I think he'd be just as safe, if not safer, with my family or with Sirius. And he'd certainly be happier."

Dumbledore sighed. "Be that as it may, Miss Weasley, the protection of blood often has subtle effects that are not obvious to an observer. Who's to say discarding that protection won't lead to ruin?"

"Who's to say it will?" Ginny countered. "Do you actually know?"

"I am not perfect, Miss Weasley, I am well aware of that," Dumbledore said. "Still, I fear Harry foregoing the protection of blood would be very foolish."

"But letting Harry suffer under the _care_ of those muggles, in exchange for some, some vague promise of protection that never seems to come true... That, doesn't seem like a fair trade, sir," Ginny objected.

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "I am sorry that Harry is... less than happy in the care of his relatives, but it is - "

" - for the _Greater Good_, sir?" Ginny finished pointedly.

Dumbledore visibly flinched, a shadow of ancient anguish flickering through his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Ginny said quietly. "That was low. But you didn't see Harry's face when..."

Dumbledore gently waved her down. "No, Miss Weasley, perhaps I deserved that. There is an insidious error of thought, where one professes fallibility or makes a show of doubting one's course, yet in the end one continues along their present course simply because it is their present course, rather than for whatever reasons one tells oneself."

Ginny made herself not say anything.

"Perhaps, I have become guilty of this sin," Dumbledore mused distantly.

In a moment of inspiration, Ginny asked, "Sir, what would you do if the protection of blood had been voided by some natural accident? Say the Dursley house burned down for non-magical reasons, or Petunia Dursley got hit by a beer truck and died, or Harry just got lost on his way home one summer and never showed up? What would you do if something like that had happened?"

Dumbledore looked at her in surprise. "There are... alternatives."

Ginny nodded. "Precisely."

Dumbledore went thoughtfully quiet for a while. "Very well, Miss Weasley. It will take me time to explore the possibilities and arrange it - Harry will have to stay put this summer - but for subsequent summers, I shall have an alternative prepared."

"Thank you, sir," Ginny said.

* * *

Harry sprawled listlessly on the rickety old bed in the smallest bedroom of Number Four Pivet Drive, watching the moon through his window.

He was two weeks into the summer, and he was already missing Hogwarts terribly. Without his two-way mirror and with Hedwig locked up, he couldn't even talk to his friends. He'd expected that he'd have at least gotten a letter asking why he wasn't answering his mirror, by now. Maybe Sirius was more upset with Harry than he let on about having to stay at the Dursley's. Maybe Ginny didn't have time for him now that she had her brothers back. Maybe Ron and Hermione had better things to do than write to their friend from school.

Harry grabbed his pillow and pulled it over his head. He was driving himself spare, worrying that his friends had forgotten him. He really didn't think they would do that, but then why hadn't he heard from them?

His thoughts circled like that for a while, until they were interrupted by a sudden tapping on his window.

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

Harry sat bolt upright, snatching the pillow away. He looked around, spotting a shadowy figure in his window. Harry yelped in surprise and fell off the bed. He landed catlike, making little noise, heart pounding. He listened hard to make sure he hadn't woken his uncle, breathing a sigh of relief after a few moments. Harry blinked, and scrambled up to his window.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, because there she was, sitting on a broom just outside his window.

Harry yanked the window open and stared astonished before breaking out in a huge grin. "Ginny! What're you doing here?"

"Hey Harry," Ginny greeted cheerfully. "We were getting worried."

"You were? Who were? Er..."

Ginny giggled. "So, you gonna let me in?"

"Oh, yeah! But try not to make noise," Harry said, pushing the window up as far as it would go. "My aunt and uncle are asleep and they'll get real mad if we wake them up."

Harry stepped back and Ginny flew inside, spinning in place as she dismounted. Ginny set her broom aside, and Harry glanced around, a bit embarassed. His room wasn't much to talk about. What if -

Ginny slid her arms around him and gave him a squeeze. "So what gives? How come you never answered any letters?"

Harry scowled. "But I didn't get any letters. And I couldn't send any," Harry pointed at Hedwig's cage, "even if I had, or even use the mirror, 'cause my uncle locked up all my school things."

"Oh," Ginny said, putting her head in her hand. "_Dobby!_"

"What's a Dobby?"

"Eeep," said a strange little voice.

Harry blinked. "Did my dresser just eeep?"

"You might as well come out, Dobby," Ginny told the offending piece of furniture "I know you're there."

Harry's eyes went wide when a little creature in a dirty pillowcase with floppy bat-like ears, big bulging green eyes, and a long pointed nose, peeked out from the dresser and gave a little guilty wave. Harry was flummoxed.

"Ginny, what's going on?" Harry asked.

"Well," Ginny gave the little creature a look. "Would you like to explain that, Dobby?"

The little creature came out from his hiding spot and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet. "Yesses, missy Harry Potter's friend Ginny! So long has Dobby wanted to meet the great Harry Potter, sir. Such an honor it is..."

"Er, thank you?" Harry glanced at Ginny questioningly.

"Dobby is a house-elf, Harry," Ginny explained. "They're magical servants, often bound to a particular wizarding family line. I'm pretty sure I know who Dobby here is bound too, but I think you should hear him out first."

Dobby stared wide-eyed at Ginny as Harry sat down on the corner of his bed. "Oh, er, well um, pleased to meet you, Dobby, but _is_ there a particular reason you're here?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes, sir," Dobby said earnestly. "Dobby has come to... it is difficult, sir... Dobby wonders where to begin..."

Harry patted his rickety bed. "Why don't you sit down?"

For a second Dobby didn't react, then he burst into tears - very noisy tears. Harry shot a panicked look towards the wall that separated his room from the Dursley's.

"_Sit down!_" he wailed. "_Never... ne - _"

Dobby's wails cut off. Harry had only glanced away for a second, but in that time Ginny had grabbed Dobby and gotten her hand over the little creature's mouth. Harry stared in surprise.

"It's alright," Ginny whispered. "Your family is horrible to you, simply because they can be." Ginny looked up at Harry. "Cruelty is a way of life for some, but only some, and certainly not Harry."

Dobby quieted, and Ginny released him. The little elf sat on the bed and Ginny joined him. He sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last Dobby managed to contain himself, and sat with his great big eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery adoration.

Harry was wondering how Ginny knew about this house-elf, but guessed it might be part of her big mysterious secret, so he asked something else. "Does this wizard family of yours know you're here, Dobby?"

"Oh, no, sir, no..." Dobby shuddered. "Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir..."

"But why would you have to punish yourself if they don't know?" Harry asked, concerned.

"It is the house-elf's nature, sir," Dobby said. "It is unthinkable for a house-elf to not punish himself if he acts against the wishes of his family, sir."

"But won't they wonder why you're shutting your ears in the oven door?" Harry asked.

"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds Dobby to do extra punishments..."

Harry grimaced. "And I thought I had it bad, staying here all summer." Harry looked up at Ginny. "Can't anyone help him? Can we do anything?"

Almost at once, Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude, and Harry was very glad Ginny was fast enough to muffle the little elf's cries while she patted him awkwardly.

"Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby..." the little elf gasped when Ginny let him go. "Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew..."

Ginny smiled at Harry. "Harry's greatness _is_ his goodness, Dobby. You should ignore all that rubbish about the glory of being part of some magical accident that killed a dark lord and such. Harry is worth so much more than that."

Harry was feeling distinctly hot in the face as his objection died on his lips. "Ah, I don't know about that, but Ginny's right about Voldemort - "

Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned. "Ah! Speak not the name, sir!"

"Sorry," Harry said quickly. "I know lots of people don't like it. My friend Ron, he sort of _twitches_ every time..."

Harry and Ginny shared a grin. Dobby leaned towards Harry, his eyes wide as headlights.

"Ah, Harry Potter is humble and modest, valiant and kind! He is great even when he doesn't know it," Dobby exclaimed. "But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if Dobby does have to shut his ears in the oven door later..." Dobby edged away from Ginny. "Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!"

There was a silence broken only by Hedwig's sleepy rustling. Harry shot Ginny a shocked look, but she just smiled knowingly.

"Let me guess, Dobby," Ginny said. "You want Harry to stay away from Hogwarts, because your master is planning something that will put the castle in peril next year, right?"

Dobby's eyes bulged. He squeaked and nodded nervously "How does Harry Potter's friend Ginny know of this?"

"I know who you belong to, Dobby. It wasn't a hard guess to make," Ginny said.

"Who does he belong to?" Harry asked.

"Dobby has the misfortune of being bound to the Malfoys, Harry," Ginny told him.

Dobby squeaked again. "It is true. Master plots to make most terrible things happen at Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

"Harry _is_ too important, Dobby," Ginny said, "Too important to the people who care about him to be left alone, without magic, without friends, where he'll have nothing but misery. Your plan was a bad plan, Dobby. _Were_ you why Harry never got the letters we sent him?"

Dobby squeaked again and almost seemed to vibrate in place for a second, before looking down and wringing his hands. "Harry Potter and Harry Potter's friend Ginny musn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby hoped if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him, Harry Potter might not want to go back to school..." Dobby pulled a thin wad of envelopes out of hammerspace. "Dobby has them here, sir."

"Like I said, a bad plan, Dobby," Ginny said gently. "Harry's friends will never forget him. Ever. Nor will his teachers, or the Headmaster. Nor his enemies. Trapping Harry here, where he can't learn, can't live, would be no better than killing him yourself, Dobby, and any attempt would be doomed to failure from the start."

Dobby digested this, then slipped off the bed and fell face-first to the floor, moaning in defeat. Harry stared at his hands in embarrassed appreciation.. Ginny reached over and squeezed his thigh, giving him an earnest smile. Ginny reached down and nudged Dobby off the floor.

"It's not so bad as all that, Dobby," Ginny said. "I'm not going to ask, because I suspect you can't say, but if your master's plot involves a dark artifact in the form of a little black diary, there's nothing to worry about. The one your master has is a fake, and no danger to anybody."

Dobby looked up with wide hopeful eyes. Ginny smiled at the little elf. Dobby's mouth fell open, then he grinned and gave a little hop.

"But how do you know that?" Harry blurted. "Oh, or is that secret?"

Ginny wiggled her hand. "I know the one Malfoy has is fake, because I helped Sirius steal the real one and destroy it."

"Missy Ginny has protected Harry Potter, sir. Harry Potter's friends are as great as he," Dobby said excitedly. "Dobby promises he won't try to keep Harry Potter away from Hogwarts."

"Well, er, thank you, Dobby," Harry said, still a bit stunned by Ginny's casual admission. "It was nice meeting you."

Dobby gave a happy little laugh, and vanished with a snap of his fingers. Ginny scooted over and sat hip to hip with Harry.

Harry looked at her and asked, "That was... weird, right?"

Ginny snickered. "You could say that."

* * *

The following night, Ginny showed up on her broom again. Harry grinned when he saw her outside his window, and hurried to let her in.

"Hi Harry," Ginny greeted with a smile. "Sirius says he's glad you're alright."

"Me too," Harry chuckled. "Did you say anything to Ron?"

Ginny shook her head. "I couldn't. I don't want him to know I'm sneaking off to come see you."

"Because then Ron would want to know how you were getting here and come along, and if he did he'd find out that you can apparate, and want to know why you can and he can't..." Harry nodded, sighing as he sat down.

Ginny sat next to him and put an arm around his waist. "Do _you_ think Ron would accept his _little sister_ having more power and bigger secrets than he does?"

"He'd wig," Harry admitted after a while. "He's always complaining that he has to live up to his _older_ brothers, so yeah, I know, he wouldn't take it well."

"And the twins would never let him forget it," Ginny chuckled.

Harry blinked. "You told Fred and George?"

"They sort of found out on their own a while ago - didn't I tell you this?" Ginny asked.

"_No_, I had no idea Fred and George knew about you!"

Ginny winced. "Sorry, Harry. I thought I had. I guess it never came up."

"I suppose it's okay," Harry finally said, leaning into her arm a bit.

Ginny smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder, enjoying the closeness of snuggling with Harry. He let his arm go around her, and his hand rested against the outside of her thigh. Faint flickers of desire kindled in Ginny's belly, and she let out a little happy noise at the welcome and familiar feelings. Those feelings were still pale shadows of what they would be once her body had a few more years to mature, but her hormones were waking up something fierce. Thankfully, she didn't have to learn what they meant and what to do with them all over again. She already knew herself as a sensual being.

"So, speaking of the ways and wonts of Fred and George," Ginny said after a while, "I had a thought. We can't use magic to let Hedwig out of her cage, or get you into your trunk, but there are other ways." Ginny gave Harry a grin. "Wanna learn to pick a lock?"

"You know how to do that? Yeah," Harry said. "Definitely."

Ginny tugged him up and gently pushed him towards Hedwig's cage. The owl blinked her large eyes at them and hooted neutrally. Wordlessly, Ginny took Harry's shoulders and turned him towards the cage. She pulled a pin from her pocket and slipped her arms under Harry's, pressing herself against his back.

"Watch my hands," Ginny murmured.

Ginny took her time, but it wasn't a very good lock. It soon clicked open, and Hedwig eagerly hopped out onto Harry's arm. The snowy owl nipped at Harry and then took off, gliding out the window.

"That's a relief," Harry said, watching Hedwig fly away. "She was really starting to get bored."

Ginny shut the cage and replaced the lock. Once Hedwig was out of sight, they returned to the lock-picking lesson.

"Alright, here," Ginny said, handing the pin to Harry and pressing up against his back again. "Put it in like this, then sort of feel for it here. I'll guide your hands."

Ginny hid a smile in Harry's shoulder as she slowly helped him through the process. Harry was a little _too_ focused on the task at hand, and in the corner of her eye she was sure there was a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I got it!" Harry announced as the lock clicked open.

"Good show," Ginny said, snapping the lock shut again. "Let's go again. Try to get it faster this time."

Harry nodded. "Okay."

Ginny guided his hands much more lightly this time, but Harry learned fast. Now that he'd gotten it once, it didn't take him long to find it again. He grinned as the lock popped open. Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's waist and took a deep breath to let out a happy sigh, but Harry suddenly went tense.

"Ginny!" Harry yelped. "I can feel your - " Harry's jaw snapped shut and his face went red.

"Huh? Oh!" Ginny stepped back as Harry turned around. "Oh yeah! I've got titties now! Cool, huh?" Ginny cupped her chest in her hands and looked down at it. "I wonder how big they'll get."

Harry smacked a hand over his eyes. "_Ginny!_"

Ginny giggled and pulled his hand down. "Sorry, Harry. It's okay. No need to take it out on your glasses."

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, they have a hard enough time as is."

"Come on," Ginny said, going to the door. "Let's go get your trunk."

Still blushing a bit, Harry led her downstairs. It took him three tries with Ginny's coaching, but he got the lock off the cupboard under the stairs. Careful not to make any noise, they pulled Harry's school trunk into the hallway and shut the cupboard up again.

Ginny took one end of the trunk, and Harry took the other. Together, they managed to carry it up the stairs in silence, and stash it under the rickety desk in Harry's room. After a moment's thought, Harry got out his invisibility cloak and draped it over the trunk.

"Brilliant," Ginny said.

Harry grinned and sat down on the bed, yawning. "Are you gonna come back tomorrow?"

"If I can." Ginny sat beside him and they flopped back onto the bed together. "Maybe we can go flying. It could be fun to see how much of the area we can explore without being seen. Have you flown at night yet?"

"No, but it'd be just like flying during the day, wouldn't it? Only darker," Harry said.

Ginny grinned and shook her head. "Trust me, it's a whole different world. It feels faster, and everything seems bigger, and you get this sense like you're part of the air... Racing through the clouds between the stars above and the lights below... It just _feels_ different."

That was actually something like how Harry had described his flight through London with the Order of the Phoenix, last time around. It was the first and most obvious thing Ginny and Harry had in common, that deep sense of joy and rightness and belonging when they took to the air.

"Ginny?" came Harry's hesitant murmur after they'd been quiet for a while.

"Yeah, Harry?"

"You've done a lot for me, haven't you," Harry said softly. "Probably even more than I know about, and for a long time too. Probably even when we'd only just met."

Ginny looked over at him, meeting his bewildered eyes with her own blazing affection.

"Why?" Harry continued, swallowing heavily. "Why so much for my sake?"

"Because you're worth it," Ginny said simply. "You're a wonderful friend, and a wonderful boy. You're brave, and kind, and clever. Understanding and loyal."

"But, but I'm... that's just - "

"And modest." Ginny smirked.

Harry made a face. Ginny smiled gently.

"_I_ think you're worth it, Harry, and _nothing_ will ever convince me that you're not."

Harry blushed again and looked away, staring up at the ceiling.

* * *

The cool midnight air whipped through Ginny's hair as she hurtled under the looming specter of a suspension bridge. Harry overtook her as they wrenched their brooms upward and zoomed up the outside of the bridge's towers until they were lost in the darkness of the night sky once more. Ginny banked in formation with Harry, returning his laughing grin as they dove once more and followed the river, skimming the water.

* * *

Some nights, Ginny just couldn't sneak away, and on others, Harry used the mirror to warn her that the Dursley's had gotten him up early and made him work all day so he'd be dead asleep by the time Ginny could sneak over. But every night she could, Ginny showed up at Harry's window. Sometimes they'd talk about Hogwarts, sometimes they'd just laze about his room and Ginny would snuggle him as much as she dared, but the best nights were always the ones where they took off on their brooms and flew through the night.

Harry might be stuck there, but Ginny did what she could to make his summer enjoyable.

At last Harry's birthday rolled around, and Arthur Weasley showed up at the Dursley's front door. Ginny and Ron had both argued their dad into bringing them along, so they got to see his consternation when Petunia Dursley took one look at him, and shut the door in his face.

"That old bint!" Ron exclaimed.

"Now now, Ron, what would your mother say if she heard you talking like that?" Arthur admonished.

"Right, sorry Dad."

Ginny was laughing. "I don't think your muggle outfit is very convincing, Dad."

Fortunately, Harry had been listening for their arrival, and a few moments later the door opened again, and there he was with his trunk.

"Well, I'm off, Aunt Petunia!" Harry called over his shoulder.

"What are you - " Petunia's voice cut off as Harry shut the door. "Hello, Mr. Weasley. Hi Ginny. Hey Ron."

Ginny hugged Harry like she hadn't seen him in a while, even though she'd snuck over the night before. Ron grumbled about Harry saying hi to Ginny before him, but it was a good-natured grumbling.

"Right then, let's be off, shall we?" Arthur said.

The Ford Anglia was parked at the curb. Ron helped Harry put his trunk in the boot, and they were off. Ginny enjoyed Harry's happiness at getting away from Pivet Drive, and sighed with contentment, because she knew if Dumbledore kept his word - and he bloody well better - today was Harry's last day at Number Four, ever.

Happy birthday, Harry.

* * *

_This is it,_ Riley Raye thought, sweat beading on his forehead. _Weeks of searching and researching, of experiment and planning - all hope rides on this last gamble. There's no recourse if this doesn't work, no going back now that it's begun._

Riley gritted his teeth, summoned what courage he had...

...and pressed the **A** button on his _Gameboy Color_, launching his last pokeball at the legendary Mew, while he wished he'd remembered to save his game.


	18. A Failure To Communicate

**~A Failure to Communicate~**

The dinner Molly Weasley cooked to celebrate Harry's birthday was fantastic, or at least everyone there thought so. Hermione couldn't make it, but she'd written to Harry and Ron both, and it was agreed that they'd meet in Diagon Alley after they all got their Hogwarts letters.

The most interesting of his presents was the one Fred and George gave him later that night. The twins pulled Harry aside while no one was looking and presented him with a folded bit of parchment.

"This, Harry, is the secret to our success," one twin said.

Harry gave the parchment a doubtful look. "A bit of old parchment?"

The twins grinned. "A bit of old parchment, he says."

The other twin glanced around before pulling out his wand and touching it to the parchment. "I solemly swear that I am up to no good."

To Harry's surprise, lines exploded across the parchment from Fred or George's wandtip. Harry read the message that appeared with widening eyes.

"This is the Marauder's Map," Harry breathed, lightly touching the name _Prongs_.

"Oy Fred," presumably-George said. "Looks like ickle Gin-Gin went and spoiled the surprise."

"Indeed, brother mine," presumably-Fred said. "I was so looking forward to dazzling Harrykins here with our deductive prowess."

"Well, Harry," George said. "Since we've pretty much memorized all the secret passages, we figure it was time the Marauder's Map was returned to its rightful heir."

"Wow, thanks guys," Harry said.

"It was a bit of cleverness on our part, if I do say so myself," Fred said. "See, once we figured out that Padfoot was Sirius, it was simply a matter of research and deduction to determine who the others really were. James Potter, the legendary Mr. Prongs,"

"And imagine our surprise when we worked out that the genius of Moony was none other than our favorite Defense Professor!" George added.

* * *

"I found you!" Charlotte cried happily, throwing her arms around Riley.

"Charly? You, you remember me?" Riley gulped.

"It was awful, Riley! You were gone, and I couldn't remember who you were," Charlotte sobbed softly.

Riley fell to his knees with Charlotte, clinging to her. "I thought I'd never see you again. I thought they'd taken you away forever. How did you remember and find me?"

Cyborg gave them a thumbs-up. "It was a piece of cake, G-boy. We brunted the amnesha-forces with a twenty for Star bribed that Mew you caught with a fire flower."

"Mewmew mewmewmew!" Mew contributed.

Riley blinked. "But I didn't catch the Mew."

"That's right, Guardian-Riley," Robin said seriously. "The Mew was not caught at all, therefore those chain of events are impossible."

Riley looked down to share a confused look with Charlotte, but she was gone and his arms were empty. "Charly?" He looked around frantically. "Charly!"

"She'll always be gone," Robin said seriously.

"CHARLY!"

Riley sat bolt upright in bed, disoriented for a moment before he realized it had been a dream. Again.

Sinking back onto his pillow, Riley curled up and let the tears fall. He missed her so much. After a while, Riley cried himself out like he always did after he dreamed about Charlotte, and slid out of bed to start the day.

Life had been a bit rocky for the Raye family. It wasn't easy to find reliable employers who wouldn't question their aliases. Riley wasn't particularly put out about not being able to go to school, but spending day after day in the rickety little whitewashed cottage his parents had acquired got boring.

His mum and dad traded off on giving him school lessons when they could, and he did spend a lot of his free time practicing and experimenting with his powers. He played video games and reread his favorite comic books, especially Teen Titans, dozens of times, looking for inspiration, but the only new ability Riley had mastered was an inversion of his force blast that let him pull things towards him like a magnet. He still couldn't figure out how those supervillains had done their teleporting, or shapeshifting, or the memory thing. Well, he had an idea about the teleporting, but he was afraid to try it, since he figured getting it wrong could easily kill him.

"Morning, Mum," Riley said as he went into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of cooking breakfast.

"Good morning, dear," his mum said. "It'll be eggs and toast today."

Riley smiled for his mother, and went to get out plates and things. He sat down and put his chin in his hands, still dwelling on his reoccurring dreams about Charlotte. His dad came in from the back and kiss his mum in greeting. He joined Riley at the table.

"You're looking down this morning," his dad commented.

Riley sighed. "I dreamed about Charly again."

His dad just gave him an sad smile and patted him on the shoulder.

"_Ehhhehh!_"

Riley jumped at the sudden screech of a large bird - an owl had swooped through the kitchen window and landed on the table in front of Riley. Riley scrambled out of his chair and readied a force blast. He blinked. The owl had a heavy yellowed envelope in its beak. It dropped it on the table and took off again.

That was when Riley realized the owl was glowing with power. With a surge of panic, Riley inverted his readied force blast and yanked the owl back into the kitchen before it could escape.

The possibly-shapeshifted-supervillain squawked indignantly as it tumbled through the air towards Riley. Riley dodged to the side and hit the owl with a normal force blast, hurtling it across the room and pinning it to the wall.

"Mum! Dad! I don't think that owl's an owl. It has the power," Riley exclaimed.

His dad grabbed a kitchen knife and approached the dazed owl cautiously. "If my son's telling the truth, you better change back and start talking, whoever you are."

"Greg!" his mum called. "Look, it's addressed to Riley. It even has his room on it."

Riley spun around, and the owl fluttered to the floor, twitching feebly. "They found us. How did they find us?"

"Why a letter?" his dad wondered, keeping one eye on the stunned owl.

Riley went back to the table and peered at it. Yep, that was his name, and his room, and their address. Riley picked up the letter, his heart pounding. His parents looked on in helpless worry as Riley's shaking hands broke the thick wax seal. Riley reached into the envelope, but the second his fingers touched the folded letter, it flared with power and little streamers of power burst from the parchment and flowed up Riley's arm.

"Gaahh!" Riley flung the envelope away and scrambled back, frantically slapping at his arm.

His dad leaped forward. "What? Riley! What is it?"

"It's a trap!" Riley yelped. "There was power in the letter!"

Riley couldn't really feel it on his skin, but he could see it plain as day. It reminded him of the Venom symbiote from Spiderman and boy was that not a comforting thought. It dug through his shoulder, and Riley's hands scrabbled helplessly at his chest an back as he watched it twine around his spine, climbing up towards his neck and growing down towards his crotch. He tried to fight it with his own power, but he couldn't get a grip on it that way either.

Though it was pointless, Riley jumped like a scalded cat when he saw the thing twine tendrils of power into his boy-parts. He hit the ceiling with a scream, and scrambled across the den. He hit the wall over the front window and slid down to the floor with tears tracking down his face.

"Get it out of me!" Riley felt confused and frightened and violated, and he stared pleadingly at his parents even though he knew they couldn't do anything. "Get it out of me..."

His mum and dad looked confused and horrified, but they were at his side in a moment.

"I think we need to run again, Janet," his dad said.

"I don't know what it is!" Riley cried. "They put something in me and I don't know what it is!"

Riley's mum shared a complicated look with his dad. "I'll start packing."

Riley's dad started to nod, but he was interrupted by a pair of loud snapping sounds like something between a balloon popping and a firecracker. Riley scrambled up in terror, backing away from the glowing figure he could see through the cottage wall.

"It's too late," Riley whispered. "They're here."

In a moment of reckless bravery that he never would have had the guts for if his parents hadn't been in danger, Riley called upon every scrap of power he had, with every bit of fear and panic he was feeling, and aimed a force blast at the glowing figure.

The front door blew apart in a torrent of splinters, and Riley caught a glimpse of black robes and a pointed hat before the supervillain went tumbling down the grassy knoll the cottage sat upon. He grabbed his parents' hands and pulled.

"Run!"

Riley raced out the back door with his parents close behind. He took off in a arcing leap, and with a wave of his hand, the tarp covering the family car was ripped up into the air towards Riley. He landed in a crouch on the other side of the car as the tarp went fluttering into a nearby tree.

The Rayes piled in, his dad nearly fumbling the keys. Riley put his seatbelt on, and his dad peeled out down the dirt road that served the cottage as a driveway.

"Where are we going, Greg?" his mum asked.

"I don't know," his dad answered. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Maybe we should try to get to the continent, or maybe even America," his mum suggested. "Somewhere a lot further away."

Riley had a really horrible suspicion that it wouldn't matter, that the thing clinging to his spine was like a tracking device, and they'd never actually get away. But he really didn't want it to be true, so he didn't say anything.

Instead, he made himself calm down and started poking at the thing inside him with his own power. He couldn't see how, but maybe if he kept trying he might find a way to tear the thing loose. Riley poked and prodded while the car trundled down a country road.

After only a few minutes, Riley was startled out of his concentration by a rapid series of five glowy bursts of power as robed figures materialized on the road in front of them. Riley's eyes widened. He recognized those robes. They were the same as the one's who'd stolen Charlotte's and his parent's memories of him.

"Run them down!" Riley snarled.

"What?" his dad exclaimed, already slowing down.

Riley held out both hands, using his power to pull on the brake pedal and push on the gas. His dad gasped.

"Riley! Stop it!"

"No!" Riley screamed. "They took Charly away!"

But it ended up not mattering. One of the blue-robed figures pointed a glowing spike of light, and power shot out and hit the car, instantly stalling the engine and locking the wheels. Riley and his parents slammed against their seatbelts as the car skidded to a stop.

"No no no!" Riley whimpered as the blue-robes raised their weapons.

Riley acted. He let his power fly out of his body and wrap around him and his parents. He focused his desperate need for them to be away from where they were. He had no idea how aiming worked, so he focused on a point a few miles directly above them, poured his desperation into his power, and...

Implosion. Rushing, squeezing, being crushed and stretched, can't breathe.

...they were suddenly drifting like a leaf next to a cloud.

"Sodding shit!" his dad cursed, latching onto his arm painfully hard.

"Hold on!" Riley said. "Which way?"

His mum was clinging to him pretty tightly too. "Back to the cottage?"

"They might be waiting for us there," his dad managed. Gregory Raye was not a fan of heights.

"I don't know, I don't know," his mum fretted.

"Head east, Riley," his dad said. "We're not far from Swindon."

Riley made sure his power was wrapped around all three of them, and turned towards the sun. He focused on the horizon, and made his power move.

_THACRACK!_

It took six jumps before Riley spotted the town off to one side. Riley's aim was improving, and this time they came out of the crushing darkness only a few feet above the grass of a small field. They touched down with a sigh of relief.

"That is," his dad gulped, "not my favorite way to travel."

Riley flopped down on the grass. "I'm just glad I was right about how to do it."

His mum crouched down and gathered Riley into a hug. "I'm proud of you, Riley."

"Thanks Mum," Riley said, smiling weakly.

His dad ran a hand through his hair. "What are we going to do now? Where can we go?"

"Let's worry about that after we find a meal and some - "

_Crack! Crack Crack Crack! Crack Crack!_

Suddenly they were surrounded and three voices shouted, "_Stupefy!_"

Red energy bolts flew from the spikes of light in the hands of red-robed figures and smashed into Riley's dad, flinging him to the ground in a heap.

"Dad!" Riley screamed.

With a roar of defiance, Riley reached out with both hands and yanked two of the red-robes off their feet. He lightened himself and leaped upwards as the two supervillians smashed face-first into each other.

"_Stupefy!_"

Riley twisted in the air, dodging the energy blast. He landed and wrapped his power around his mum, then teleported to his dad's unmoving form.

"Bloody hell!"

"Anti-Apparition Jinx, now!"

Riley didn't know what that meant, but it couldn't be good. He wrapped his power around his dad and teleported straight up again. He quickly looked around, spotting a street with shops on it a ways distant. He teleported again, setting the three of them down in the alley behind the shops. His mum cradled his dad, rocking him in her arms.

"Greg! Greg! Oh god, Greg!"

Riley watched, shaking. "Is... is Dad...?"

"He's breathing," his mum said, sagging with relief. "Greg? Greg, honey, wake up please."

But Riley was shaking with horror. "It... the thing inside me, they can find it." Tears streamed down his face. "I can't stay with you."

"What? Riley..."

"Mum, you have to run! Without me!"

Riley turned away and flexed his power.

"Riley! No! Wait - " _Thacrack!_

Riley floated over the town, looking down at the barely-visible specks that were his parents. He shook himself, and tried to channel some of the strength and cleverness of his favorite heroes. What would they do? The only thing Riley could think of, was lead the bad guys away, and choose his battleground. He couldn't keep running forever, so it was better to fight sooner when he wasn't exhausted.

Only, that all sounded like a plan, but Riley didn't know how to set an ambush. He didn't know what made a good battleground. He was out-numbered and out-gunned. He knew what his heroes would do, but he was scared. He didn't think he could win a real battle.

He teleported across the sky a few times, until he saw a wide alley behind a warehouse. It looked like as good a place as any. Riley teleported down and hid behind a stack of crates.

After a wait of several minutes, another series of cracks announced the arrival of a bunch of robed figures. One of them stood out, in a rich red robe with a badge or something, probably the leader.

Riley leaped out of his hiding place, firing force blasts with both hands. The leader in red spun like lightning, and the force blasts did nothing. There was a lance of power that shot through the air and struck Riley faster than he could react. It passed right through his flesh and latched onto his skeleton, weaving through the bones, and suddenly Riley couldn't move.

Another bloom of power and Riley stopped in mid-air, hanging in at cage of faintly glowing power. The leader man stared at Riley impassively Riley struggled, but it was like his skeleton had been fused into one solid piece. He couldn't move.

"This is your perp? The one that took down Sinistra, and two trained hit-wizards?" the leader asked in a sardonic tone.

"Ah, he's probably been imperiused," one blue-robe said.

"It could be polyjuice," said a pretty red-robed woman with vivid pink hair, but she sounded doubtful. If Riley didn't know better, he'd think there was sympathy in her eyes.

"Peasegood, seize his wand," the leader guy said. "Maybe its polyjuice, maybe it isn't. We're not taking chances. We're bringing him in for questioning."

Riley struggled and strained, flailing with his power and frantic to find some way to get free. He'd have been sobbing incoherently if he could move, and as it was he was having trouble getting enough air.

One blue-robed man walked up to him and patted down his pockets, lifted the cuffs of his pants, and looked down the back of his shirt. "I'm not finding a wand, sir."

"Maybe he ditched it."

"Um, sir, he doesn't look so good..." the pink-haired woman spoke up.

That was somewhat of an understatement. Riley was into a full-blown panic attack. _Anyone! Anything! Someone help me! Help me! Help me!_

* * *

In an unremarkable alleyway in the small town of Swindon, a paralyzed young boy was surrounded by a half-dozen employees of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

As the boy's emotions surged to the breaking point, he thrice cried out a heartfelt plea.

Deep within the boy's magic, between the power he was born with, and the greater power that found him when it was sundered from a soul out of Time, there was a complexity that was neither being nor enchantment, but capable of hearing the boy's plea, and capable of answering.

The greater magic that did not rightfully belong to the boy tore free. The complexity unbound that magic, consuming it. From the boy's mind it pulled context, images, and intent. From the boy's blood and from magic itself it pulled structure. And from those things it defined its response.

Magical power exploded from the boy, blasting the wizards and witches off their feet. Organic matter was wrought into permanence, coalescing, building, and shaping. Bone and sinew, muscle and organs, flesh and blood, skin and clothing.

The complexity then remade itself, destroyed and dispersed into a pattern of neurons, sacrificed as raw material to create a mind matching the correct pattern.

In an unremarkable alleyway in the small town of Swindon, a girl in her late teens opened eyes that shimmered between red and blue. Her hair was dark and violet, her skin a lustrous dark silver, as though she had slate for pigment. Her voluptuous figure was wrapped in a skin-tight sleeved black leotard that shimmered blue when the light hit it just right. She wore a belt of glowing red stones, and a cloak of shadowed blue flared behind her in the magical wind of her creation.

The boy fell to the ground in a heap, and saw his greatest hero standing before him, before the stress overcame him and he passed out.

* * *

The mission was to protect a young boy named Riley Raye. Raven wasn't sure who the enemy was, or what their powers were, but the boy was already incapacitated, so she didn't have time to find out from a safe distance. The robed enemies were already regaining their feet.

A voice cried, "_Stupefy!_"

The stunbolt sank harmlessly into a shell of erebeal darkness that appeared with a thought. Raven's darkness wasn't an absence of light, it was the _concept of shadow_, a shadow cast by her mind and magic, made tangible through the magical principle of perceptual projection.

More stunbolts struck shields of darkness, doing nothing. Raven was wary for a more serious attack, but she hadn't even needed to move yet.

"I'll only warn you once," Raven said evenly. "Walk away from this child."

The man in fancy red robes with a badge growled, "Hit-wizards! Arrest that creature!"

A thought created a shield around the unconscious boy. Raven noted that the pink-haired witch hesitated, but the others all raised wands and shouted, "_Stupefy!_"

Raven folded her body out of the physical plane, appearing to fall into a pool of shadow that appeared under her feet. Stunbolts clipped her cloak, but didn't come close to hitting her. Erebeal darkness surged up under the feet of the Auror like some tentacled horror, but he disapparated out of their grasp. Raven tried to seize the wizard in transit, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Shit!" "What the bloody hell was that!" "Dark creature!"

"Form up on me!" the Auror snapped.

The hit-wizards leaped away and formed two trios who stood back-to-back. Raven melted out of the darkness shielding the boy. She ran a hand over him, sensing for maladies. She didn't find any injuries, but she did sense a faint enchantment in the core of his body.

"There! Shield-breakers, now!" the Auror ordered.

"_Lagann!_"

The attack made Raven think of Starfire's starbolts if someone had rolled one out into a spiral. She drew the boy under her cloak and folded them away just in time to see her protective shell shatter like glass under the assault.

Moments later, Raven emerged inside a nearby warehouse, empty except for several shipping pallets stacked with lumber. She set the boy down carefully and delved into that enchantment she'd sensed. It was anchored very securely to the boy's own magical essence, and its functions were complicated enough that she wouldn't be able to parse them without hours of study.

If, as she suspected, it let those wizards track him, she'd need to subdue the wizards before she'd have time for that. She should probably call the others for backup. Raven moved away from the boy towards the center of the warehouse and pulled her communicator off her belt, flipping it open. Nothing happened.

"What?" Raven flipped it over, checked the battery, hit the power button several times, and gave it a smack for good measure. "Wonderful. No backup."

What was she even doing here on her own, she wondered. It was strange. She knew the mission she was on and where in the world she was, but she couldn't seem to remember actually being sent on said mission, or even if the other Titans ought to be with her or not. Raven frowned. She couldn't remember _ever_ being briefed about it, or _anything_ about setting out to find the boy. She knew she was in the United Kingdom, but she didn't remember actually traveling there from Jump City.

"This makes no sense at all," Raven grumbled. "What am I doing here?"

_Crack! Crack! Crack crack! Crack! Crack! Crack crack! Crack!_

Grunting in annoyance, Raven took to the air as spellbolts shot through the space beneath her. She threw shards of solid shadow like bludgeons at the nearest wizards as she soared up to the metal rafters. One wizard staggered as a shard smashed into his glimmering shield, but the next took a direct hit and was flung away with a broken arm.

"_Confringo!_" "_Asta Ignis!_" "_Expuslo!_"

Spellbolts blasted into the ceiling exploding and flinging debris behind her as Raven dodged through the metal girders. She looped a diagonal support and dove, pulling a swarm of debris in her wake and flinging it down, smashing two more wizards into the concrete floor and probably giving at least one of them a concussion.

_Crack!_ Raven spun around. The boy was gone! "Damn!"

Raven flung a shield up as a packing crate next to her exploded. She swooped sideways, throwing more erebeal shards, which smashed through a witch's shield charm and knocked her off her feet with a small spray of blood. She seized the witch's unguarded body with her mind and flung it to the side, knocking down another wizard that had been about to cast.

A spellbolt struck Raven in the back, blowing a hole in her cloak and scorching her uniform and skin. Raven fell to the ground with a grunt of pain. The concrete under her exploded, blasted chunks bruising her chest and ribs, and ripping gashes in her unprotected face and legs. She tumbled through the air with a cry of pain and crashed down atop a shipping pallet.

"_Stupefy!_"

Dazed and hurting, Raven still managed to block the stunbolt. She levitated back into the air and made four erebeal tentacles burst from the shadow of her cloak. One tried to block a spell and was blown apart into wispy black nothingness. Raven flew sideways as she smashed one ethereal black tentacle into the last Auror's gut, doubling him over, before coiling another tentacle around his neck and flinging him twenty feet into a wall.

There were two hit-wizards still on their feet. Another erebeal tentacle blew apart as Raven used it to block a spellbolt. Dismissing the surviving tentacles, Raven soared back into the rafters and folded herself out of normal space.

She emerged from swirling darkness behind the two hit-wizards, seized them both with her mind, and knocked their heads together. They'd both been staring in the same direction, instead of watching each other's backs. Dimwits.

Raven looked around at her fallen foes, breathing somewhat hard. She paused to heal the worst of her cuts and bruises, then checked the wizards to make sure none of them were mortally injured. Her eyes fell on the pink-haired witch and she gasped.

The young woman lay still and pale in a pool of her own blood, a two-foot-long jagged splinter piercing her chest. Raven glided over and knelt down, extending her senses. Raven grimaced. There was still life in the pink-haired witch, but only barely.

Raven glanced around at the scattered bodies and sighed. To save the pink-haired witch, she'd need a lot more than a few minutes of undisturbed detail work. Carefully, she spread her shadow over the injured witch and folded them both out of normal space.

* * *

Amelia Bones was not looking forward to her next task, but _somebody_ had to tell him, and the responsibility was ultimately hers. Predictably, she emerged from the floo to find herself at wandpoint.

"Ident code red two," Alastor Moody demanded.

"Aries Zeta Zeta," Amelia sighed.

Nodding, Moody lowered his wand and turned away, which was one of the man's simpler ploys. Moody's eye could see behind him as easily as in front. Moody faced her again.

"What can I do for you, Amelia?" Moody asked.

Amelia coughed. "As mentor and official sponsor of Nymphadora Tonks, you're to be informed of her status. Trainee Tonks has been declared Missing in Action."

Moody was silent for exactly two seconds. "Explain. From the beginning."

Amelia nodded."Three hours ago, the Improper Use of Magic Office logged the activation of a Trace on a muggleborn wizard named Riley Raye. The moment it was active, the Trace started reporting incidence after incidence of accidental magic. A location-plotting was performed, and Hogwarts was contacted with the information, and Mister Raye was moved to the head of the line for muggleborn orientation. Professor Aurora Sinistra was sent to Mister Raye's residence, but she was attacked as she approached the house."

Moody grunted.

"Mister Raye's Trace continued to report unspecified magic use - "

"Unspecified?" Moody interrupted.

"The logbooks didn't list any specific spells, which would normally mean accidental magic, but it became obvious that someone was using magic deliberately," Amelia said. "We don't know how they obscured their specific spells - I've got Travers looking into that - we have a theory but I'll get to that in a moment."

"Fine."

"So, Mister Raye's Trace continued to detect magical activity," Amelia continued. "His location was plotted again and an Accidental Magic Reversal Squad was sent to Mr. Raye's location. They report seeing an automobile bearing down on them. They stopped the automobile, only for the occupants to disapparate. Mister Raye's Trace confirmed that he traveled by Apparition at that time."

Moody nodded impatiently.

"By then, Aurora Sinistra had dragged herself into St. Mungo's and reported the incident," Amelia said. "Put together with the disapparition from the automobile, the Squad concluded that this was a kidnapping, and that is when it came to my desk. I dispatched a response team, including Miss Tonks, to deal with the situation. They encountered resistance - we suspect Mister Raye was ensorcelled somehow - when they eventually tracked him to a muggle town called Swindon. Auror Proudfoot subdued the boy, but the response team was then attacked by... something."

Moody scowled.

"According to the reports, it appeared to be a girl of sixteen or seventeen, with violet hair and slate grey skin," Amelia continued, "but she cast no spells, and didn't appear to use a wand, which is what we think was confusing the Trace. She flew under her own power, and apparently had the ability to animate shadows into something solid, and move through darkness like she was no more than shadow herself. We aren't sure if she is some unknown species of magical creature or if she's a witch under the effects of some dark ritual, but after she single-handedly defeated nine trained DMLE officials, three of them full Aurors, she apparently abducted Miss Tonks. Fortunately, Mister Raye was removed to safety beforehand."

"Flew under her own power?" Moody growled. "You know who _else_ can do that? Bellatrix Lestrange! What are the odds this girl developed that ability independently, you think? Only one wizard in recorded history ever solved that problem, and he's in no condition to give lessons."

Amelia swore. "That's plausible. Nymphadora Tonks is Bellatrix Lestrange's niece, a so-called blood-traitor, which might explain why she in particular was taken. You think our shadow witch _is_ Lestrange?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Moody said. "Assuming either way will bite us in the arse, you can bet. I want to talk to the kid."

"Mister Raye is in St. Mungo's, being treated for magical exhaustion, but I have an Auror on stand-by to interview him as soon as he regains consciousness " Amelia told him. "I would appreciate it if you helped Shacklebolt track down Mister Raye's parents. It seems they were separated from Mister Raye during the chase. They are likely in some distress over the fate of their son."

Moody regarded her for a few seconds. "Fine."

* * *

Tonks groaned and blinked her eyes blearily. She was bone-numbingly cold, she felt like crap, and there was a stiffness and a twinge of pain when she inhaled. What the hell had happened?

Oh. Right.

They got their arses kicked.

Oh, shit, she'd been _run through_ by a piece of wooden shrapnel - Mad-eye was _so_ going to let her have it for letting that happen. Tonks already felt like she didn't want to move for a month. She finally managed to focus her eyes and the blur in front of her resolved.

_What._

Tonks stared in confusion at the alleged dark creature focusing on her torso with calm professional concern. The grey-skinned girl shifted her hands in the air over Tonks' chest a little bit, and Tonks felt the stiffness in her lung shift and ease.

"Wh - " Tonks tried to ask.

The girl's color-shifting eyes flicked over to meet Tonks'. "You're in no danger, but you've lost a lot of blood," she said in an American accent.

"Why - help - me?" Tonks managed.

The grey-skinned girl leaned back on her haunches. "You would've died if I hadn't."

"Who - are you?"

"I am Raven," she said. "Where was the boy taken?"

Tonks hesitated. "To - safety. Will fix - whatever - you did - to him."

Raven frowned and quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't do anything to him. I was sent to protect him."

"Then - why did - he attack us?"

"I'm sure he had some reason that made sense to him," Raven said sardonically. "Why do you think he would attack you?"

"Don't know," Tonks said. "We're - Law Enforcement. We thought he - was being kidnapped."

Raven nodded, frowning in thought, and Tonks took the opportunity to check out her surroundings. It looked like a room at a motor inn. Fading wallpaper. Floral-pattern bedspread. Thick curtains. One blandly-generic painting on the wall. A torn and singed dark blue cloak laid out on a writing desk next to Tonks' wand.

Tonks took a closer look at Raven, too, and would have blushed if she hadn't been lacking the spare blood for it. Without the shadowy cloak, Raven's skin-tight legless outfit didn't leave much of her luscious figure to the imagination, and while Tonks preferred men, she was by no means immune to the appeal of her own sex.

"Hey..." Raven began.

"It's Tonks."

"Tonks," Raven said, levitating a small pile brightly colored bags and bottles over to the bed. "I've done what I can, and you should be fine, but you should eat a heavy meal as soon as possible. I, ahem, _borrowed_ some snacks from a vending machine, but you're going to need something more substantial soon."

Tonks hesitated, thinking of what Mad-eye would say if she accepted food or drink from an unknown.

The corner of Raven's mouth quirked. "I haven't tampered with it. Good instinct, though."

Tonks chuckled weakly. Raven gestured, and a shadow spread from beneath Tonks, and then somehow billowed up under her body, lifting her into a sitting position. Pillows stacked themselves under her back, and then the shadow faded away. Tonks grabbed a candy-bar and a bottle of soda.

"How do you do that?" Tonks blurted. "I didn't even see you - use a wand. This time, or before."

* * *

Raven was still trying to piece together what was going on. She could feel that Tonks hadn't lied, but if it wasn't those witches and wizards, who had she come here to protect that boy from? She didn't even know why Riley Raye was important enough to send for a foreign superhero to protect him. If her stupid communicator hadn't died, she could have at least called Argent, and ask why she hadn't gotten the mission.

"Practice," Raven answered Tonks' question. "There were reasons I couldn't afford to bind my magic to a wand, no matter how much easier it would have made..." Raven trailed off.

"So, you _are_ human?" Tonks asked.

That wasn't right, and yet it was. Raven had studied a vast variety of magics, and she _knew_ how wands worked, but that knowledge contradicted what she actually remembered about learning to control her own magic. And yet, she knew her own magic just as well as she thought she ought too. She understood her power, what it could do, and why it worked. Only, that wasn't how she _remembered_ actually using her power.

Her knowledge of magic and of her own abilities contradicted her memories from before today.

Raven shivered. Something... was really _really_ Wrong, and Raven didn't know what.

Wincing, Raven glanced around to see what her slip of control had damaged, but nothing had cracked or exploded. Of course nothing broke, though. _Undirected_ emotion had to be immensely strong before it would spontaneously take magical form. She _knew_ that, but she remembered always needing near perfect control of _all_ her emotions.

"Hey, um, are you, alright there?" Tonks asked. "You look kind of spooked."

Raven schooled her features. "I don't get spooked." She floated Tonks' wand over to her. "Here. Try not to strain yourself."

"Um, thanks," Tonks said. "And thanks for patching me up, too. I'll try to tell my bosses you're not a threat. They might listen, at least some of them. Others... I'm not so sure. You look a bit... unusual, like you might not be human."

Raven frowned. "I'm not. Not entirely. But that's publicly known. You should tell your bosses to talk to Argent if they're unsure about me. I've worked with her before."

"Who's Argent?" Tonks asked.

Raven quirked an eyebrow. "You know, Argent. Teen superheroine? The beloved half-human Titan of Europe?"

Tonks was giving her a very odd look. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you're talking about. I've never heard of a Titan, and superheroine? Like in a comic book? I can't imagine the ICW letting anyone expose magic like that, especially someone who wasn't fully human... You're looking spooked again. Are you okay?"

Raven wanted to deny it, but she _was_ spooked. She could feel that Tonks wasn't lying or confused, but Raven needed to go see for herself. She floated off the bed and pulled her cloak into her hands. She made herself focus on all the individual threads, weaving them back into place. It was a strain on her concentration, but it wasn't like she had a spare on hand.

"_Vestis Reparo!_"

The threads leaped out of Raven's mental grasp, and she let them go as they spun back into place faster than she could make them. Raven looked over at Tonks.

"Thanks," Raven finally said. "And good luck."

With that, Raven folded her body out of normal space, and was gone.

* * *

Aurora Sinistra was horrified.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had shown up at St. Mungo's just as she was being released, with a nervous couple in muggle clothes. Riley Raye's parents. They explained to Shacklebolt that there hadn't been any kidnapping. The whole thing turned out to be a big misunderstanding, but not one the Rayes were at fault for. The Oblivators, in their carelessness, had destroyed a couple's knowledge of their son.

Aurora had offered her deepest sympathies, and Shacklebolt had promised to start an investigation into the Obliviators. The Rayes still seemed somewhat wary, but they agreed to wait with Aurora until their son regained consciousness.

Aurora explained some of the basics to the Rayes while they waited, but they agreed to wait on most of it until they and Riley could all talk together.

* * *

Riley woke to a sense of deja vu. Unfamiliar bed, hospital smells, his mum holding his hand. It was just like how it had started, all those months ago. Only...

Riley's eyes snapped open.

... he couldn't see his power! He couldn't see anything with his eyes closed, and even looking normally, all he could see was his own ordinary self.

"Riley?" his mum said tentatively. "Riley, it's okay. Your dad and I are here. You're safe."

Riley shook his head as he started to hyperventilate. He tried to extend his power, but he couldn't see it to know if it was working. He tried to feel for it, lighten himself, and he felt _something_, but he might have just imagined it.

"My powers," Riley whimpered. "What happened to my powers?"

"You suffered a serious case of magical exhaustion, Mr. Raye," an unfamiliar voice said.

Riley looked over and stiffened. He couldn't see the power anymore, but the pretty black woman was dressed like the supervillains. "My powers, they'll come back?"

The woman nodded. "Your parents mentioned that you already had an unusual amount of control over your magic. Yes. You just need rest. Right now, you're at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."

"This is Professor Sinistra, Riley," his mum said. "She's a teacher at a school for people like you. They say you're a wizard."

"A wizard?" Riley repeated suspiciously, looking at the woman. "You're a teacher? What do you teach?"

"Astronomy," the Professor replied.

Riley blinked. That didn't sound very supervillain-y.

So, over the next while, Professor Sinistra explained about the secret world of magic. She told them that their memory loss had been a horrible accident. She explained about Hogwarts. Finally, the Professor handed Riley the letter. He took it without thinking, and flinched as soon as he realized his mistake, but nothing bad happened, so he finally read the acceptance letter.

It all sounded good, but Riley wasn't sure he could trust it. They seemed to want him to believe that it was all just a big mistake and that there weren't any supervillains, and Professor Sinistra's explanation did make its own sort of sense, except...

If these people were really Good Guys, how could they erase Charlotte and his parents even by accident? Good Guys wouldn't be going around erasing people's minds at all. And what about that thing that had invaded his body? That _really_ didn't seem very Good-Guy-ish. And that one guy had blasted his dad, and certainly didn't seem very sorry about it. And it felt like there were other things like that he wasn't thinking of just then.

But that would mean... Riley looked between his mum and dad. Had they been brainwashed? Is that why they were going along with this? If they had, Riley couldn't let on that he didn't believe the Professor's side.

Maybe he shouldn't anyway. This was kinda like when Cyborg had joined up with HIVE. Riley could pretend he believed it all, and go to Hogwarts. Infiltrate. That was the word. To keep his parents safe, he could do that.

Riley looked down at his hands. "Well, thanks Professor. I'm sorry I've been so much trouble. Hogwarts sounds real neat."

* * *

(**A/N:** Well, anybody who read the synopsis when it was still on my profile knew this was coming. This still isn't technically a crossover, I don't think, and that'll actually come up in the story, later. Poor Raven. But her presence is going to end up being really important. I'll leave it to you to guess how.)


	19. Normalcy

**~Normalcy~**

"_Diag - ackough - nilly!_" Harry choked as he stepped into the floo.

As Harry vanished in a swirl of green fire, Ginny resisted the urge to facepalm. _Oh. Right. I forgot about this._

"What did he - " her dad started to ask.

Ginny cut him off by leaping into the green flame and mimicking Harry's coughed mispronunciation. "_Diagackounilly!_"

The whirling tunnel of fire spun Ginny about as she flashed passed gaps of light that represented other fireplaces. Ginny figured she was probably going to get yelled at for this, but it was her own fault for not remembering that no one had ever warned Harry about the dos-and-don'ts of using the floo. Then again, her mum and dad really should have given Harry better instructions.

Ginny spun out of the floo, and promptly tripped over Harry's sprawled form. She caught a glimpse of a large, cheerfully-lit space before she went crashing to the hard white marble floor. That stung.

"Gwuh? Ginny?"

"Forgot to tell you," Ginny groaned. "Take a deep breath _before_ you step into the fire."

Harry made an embarrassed noise. "Er, where are we, Ginny? This doesn't look like the Leaky Cauldron."

Ginny sat up and looked around. They were in a brightly-lit hall of white stone about a quarter of the size of the Hogwarts entrance hall. Dark red carpeting covered the floor, except in front of the large, ornate fireplace, and tapestries hung from the gold-decorated walls. The tapestries each showed off a title and a scene of combat or comedy. The hall itself was empty, but she could hear faint sounds through one of the two sets of heavy wooden double doors at opposite ends of the hall. It definitely wasn't Knockturn Alley either.

Ginny helped Harry to his feet, and pointed around. "Look, its a _playhouse_. This isn't Diagon Alley - come on, let's see what's outside."

The two of them crossed the hall to the big frosted-glass front doors, and emerged onto a moderately busy magical street. Magical lights illuminated a wide alley, with buildings that towered above them in bright and colorful variety and abstract shapes that were even more obviously held up by magic than the shops in Diagon Alley, but in this case the odd angles were clearly more intentional and artistic.

Ginny gasped, spinning around to take it all in. "Harry! This is Whimsic Alley!"

"Whimsic Alley?" Harry repeated.

"It's magical London's entertainment district, like Diagon Alley is our shopping district," Ginny explained. "I never got to come here before. We never had enough money to bother."

Harry looked up and down the alley, gawking openly. "Er, Ginny? Can we get back to Diagon Alley from here?"

Ginny thought back. "I think so. If I remember right, there should be a passage at one end of Whimsic that comes out between Flourish 'n Blott's and Quality Quidditch Supplies. I've never seen it, but Bill told me about it once. He said it works the same as the passage between Diagon and the Leaky Cauldron."

"Alright, which way then?" Harry asked.

Ginny shrugged, but took Harry's hand anyway and led him in the direction that looked busier. The occasional witch or wizard in fine robes gave them a scowl, but they made it to the end of Whimsic Alley with little trouble.

Luck was on Ginny's side for once. There was an archway outlining a section of blank wall. Ginny had her redwood wand with her, but she didn't want to draw it in public unless there was an emergency, so Harry tapped the bricks and opened the way. The bricks rearranged themselves, revealing a wide arched brick tunnel, lit by bluebell flame lanterns.

"I can't see the end," Harry said. "How far is Whimsic Alley from Diagon?"

"No clue," Ginny said cheerfully.

Harry and Ginny hurried along, hand in hand. They only passed one well-dressed witch heading the opposite way, before they came to another arch that opened onto a familiar scene. Next to her, Harry made a relieved noise.

Ginny peered into Flourish and Blott's with a frown. No Lockhart. On the one hand, she was very glad she'd decided to go after the diary when she had, but on the other hand Ginny's head was hurting trying to figure out how Lockhart's publicity stunt got called off.

"Oi Mum! Over here!" someone shouted.

Ginny shook herself out of her thoughts and spotted Ron pointing to them. Molly and Ron can rushing over. Ginny waved cheekily.

"No worries, Mum!" Ginny said brightly. "I found him."

"Ginny!" Molly nearly screeched. "What were you _thinking_? You could have ended up anywhere!"

"I was thinking Harry could have ended up anywhere," Ginny said, unruffled.

Molly eventually gave in and hugged them both, just glad they were okay. They soon found Arthur and the twins, and got on with the shopping.

* * *

Raven hovered twenty miles above the California coastline, staring down at a forested mountain range where Jump City ought to be. It was true, she wasn't in her world anymore. The cold wind bit at her as she hung in the air.

She still hadn't figured out what was wrong with her memories, either. It didn't feel like she was missing memories, but the last thing she actually remembered before facing off against those wizards was hanging around a crowded Titan's Tower.

Raven did know one thing. Her only leads, such as they were, were back in England. With a last parting glance, Raven vanished into a vortex of darkness.

* * *

The Weasleys plus Harry arrived at Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters without incident. Ginny smiled inwardly at having at least solved that problem. She felt kind of bad that Dobby was still stuck with the Malfoys, but she didn't know what she could do about that besides keep her eyes open for opportunities.

On the train, Ron half-heartedly tried to get rid of her. "Don't you want to go find some first years to sit with?"

"Nope," Ginny said, breezing passed him and into the compartment where she'd spotted Hermione. "Hello Hermione."

Hermione looked up from her book. "Oh, hello Ginny."

Ginny nodded and Hermione jumped up to exchange greetings with Harry and Ron. Ginny grunted as she slung her trunk up onto the luggage rack. She got it up there, but she nearly brained Ron with the thing and her arms felt like they'd nearly been pulled out of their sockets. Harry had his hands up like he was ready to catch her trunk if it fell, and Ginny sheepishly made a mental note to let him offer to help next time.

"Harry?" Ginny asked. "Save my seat, will you? I wanna go see to something."

Harry gave her a curious look, but just nodded. "Sure. Okay."

Ginny hugged him and bounced out of the compartment. She set off down the train, looking for a certain former-and-future friend that she wanted to save from spending her school years being bullied in Ravenclaw, if she could.

Ginny finally found her, sitting alone in the last traincar. Ginny slid the door open and just stared at her friend for a long moment. She was used to Harry and her brothers now, but this was the first time she'd seen Luna since she came back in time, and she looked so young.

"Hi, Luna," Ginny said. "I was hoping I'd find you."

Luna stared at Ginny with unnerving intensity. And stared. And stared. After almost a full minute, Ginny was growing rather uncomfortable under Luna's studious gaze. "Oh, hello Ginny Weasley. I almost didn't recognize you. I'm sorry about your birthdays."

Ginny blinked is surprise at the random comment. "It's not my - er, what?"

"Yes, you seem to have misplaced several of them," Luna said curiously. "I do wonder how five of your birthdays have gone missing. Perhaps the Celebi have been playing with time again. Curious. The other you doesn't seem to be missing any."

A sinking feeling of realization came over Ginny. "Other me?"

Luna nodded airily. "Yes. She is too busy writing in her new diary right now to talk to me, but the company is still nice."

Ginny's jaw dropped. It sounded like Luna was living both timelines simultaneously. Ginny couldn't find words strong enough to express her bafflement, but really, she should have expected _something_. It was Luna, after all. Ginny shoved all that aside for later, and forced herself back on track.

"Well, anyway, I came by to invite you to come sit with me and my other friends," Ginny said. "Want to?"

Luna stared at her for a long moment, and finally smiled. "That would be lovely, Ginny. Would you care to help me with my trunk?"

"Sure!" Ginny looked around to make sure no one was watching, and pulled out her wand to do a silent Featherweight Charm.

Luna peered at Ginny's hand. "That isn't the wand the other you showed me. Are you perhaps an impostor " Luna didn't sound troubled by the idea, but she shook her head after a moment. "No, you are Ginny Weasley. Curious. Oh I do so love a mystery."

Ginny led Luna back to the others, stepping into the compartment with Luna on her heels.

"Hey everyone," Ginny said. "This is Luna Lovegood. She lives over the hills from the Burrow and we used to play together when we were little. She's going to be in my year."

Ginny plopped down next to Harry while Hermione stood up and offered her hand.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger. Would you like to sit down?"

It wasn't the most solid of plans, but Ginny hoped this would make enough of a difference for Luna that she would be sorted into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. She _had_ to have gotten the option last time around, and if she really was seeing the old timeline concurrently with the new one, hopefully the contrast would also help her make that choice.

Now if only Ginny could keep her brains from dribbling out her ears from trying to figure out how that was happening to Luna in the first place.

* * *

"Lovegood, Luna."

...

...

...

"Gryffindor!"

Several odd looks were suddenly drawn to the back of the line, where Ginny was shamelessly doing a victory dance.

* * *

"Raye, Riley."

...

"Hufflepuff!"

* * *

"Weasley, Ginev - "

"Gryffindor!"

Ginny stopped, her fingertips barely brushing the Sorting Hat. Ginny looked up at Professor McGonagall, who looked down at her and the hat, perplexed. Ginny gave the Professor a cheerful shrug and strolled over to sit with Harry.

That had been weird, but she supposed it could have been worse, like if the hat had refused to sort her twice or something ridiculous like that.

* * *

The prefect - Riley thought her name was Luthiel something, but he hadn't been paying attention when she'd introduced herself - led the hufflepuff first-years into a dead-end corridor a level below the entrance hall. Luthiel stopped before a pile of large barrels stacked in the shadowy stone recess.

"Alright everyone," Luthiel said. "Please pay close attention, unless you want to be dunked in vinegar."

Several boys and girls grinned an giggled.

Luthiel smirked gently. "I wasn't joking." She pointed at the barrel that was two from the bottom and in the middle of the second row. "To enter our common room, you must tap this barrel twice, and then again three times, like so."

A series of taps on the barrel followed, and it opened, revealing a wide circular passage into a warmly-colored and welcoming room. Riley followed Luthiel inside with the others and looked around.

The hufflepuff common room had a sunny feeling to it. Light brown stone walls encompassed the room in a large circle, with a low ceiling of sturdy-looking sand-colored wood. Greenery hung from planters on the walls, and large round windows showed off fields of dandelions and rippling grass. Burnished copper touchings with plush, cozy yellow and black patterned sofas and chairs were scattered about. To one side were seven large circular doors of darker wood, each numbered one-through-seven, although, oddly, the leftmost door started at six, and the door marked one was third in the row.

The barrel passage swung shut as the last of the first-years gathered. Luthiel spread her hands with a smile, gesturing around the room.

"Welcome to Hufflepuff," she said. "You are here because the Sorting Hat saw within you the diligence and loyalty our house exemplifies. This is the common room. Feel free to spend time here as you wish - it is our sanctuary. The dormitories are off to your right, clearly marked with your year. The numbers change, so you will always be using the same door."

Luthiel paused. "Now, before you get settled in, there are a few rules and traditions of our house that you should be aware of, and standards of behavior that you will be expected to uphold. The first and most important thing, is that as hufflepuffs, you will all do your very best to be worthy of your housemates' trust. Each and every one of you will be expected to strive for this, to maintain the harmony of our house."

"It is also important for you to know," Luthiel continued, "that non-hufflepuffs are not allowed into our common room. The barrel will not open if it detects students from another house attempting to enter." She smiled mysteriously. "As such, it is a hufflepuff tradition that what happens in hufflepuff, stays in hufflepuff. And we'll come back to that in your third year..."

Riley exchanged confused looks with a few of the other kids.

"Right then," Luthiel said as she walked over to the big round door with a one on it. "This will be your dormitory while you're at Hogwarts. You pull here, and the door rolls open like so."

The door rolled into a slot in the stone, revealing a long rectangular room with an arched ceiling lined on either side by a series of four-poster beds, writing desks, wardrobes with cheerful privacy screens. Riley and the others followed Luthiel inside.

"In hufflepuff," Luthiel said, "we do not hold to any sort of imposed, artificial divisiveness and as such, our dormitories are co-ed. Your bathroom is at the far end. Please choose any bed you like, by placing your hand on the adjacent wardrobe and stating your full name. Your trunks and other things will appear once you do so. Class schedules will be distributed tomorrow at breakfast. Have a good night, everyone!"

There was a bit of discussion over the merits of being closer to the bathroom or closer to the door. Riley ended up selecting a bed on the left side towards the middle of the room, and sure enough, all his stuff appeared as soon as he stated his name.

* * *

Luna Current said her goodnights to Ginny and wiggled down into her sheets, idly puzzling over the events that led to her being in gryffindor while Luna Prime went to ravenclaw. Her two lives had been more or less the same up until her first ride on the Hogwarts Express.

She was a little sad for Luna Prime, though. Luna Prime didn't know any of her roommates, and none of those girls seemed particularly friendly. Luna Current only had Ginny and one other girl, but Ginny was being nice to her, and Mallory Norden just seemed to find her amusing.

Luna had been looking forward to seeing Ginny again, when she got to Hogwarts. She was very fond of the times they had played together when they were younger. Luna's favorite game had been when Luna dressed up like Harry Potter, and Ginny pretended to marry her. Ginny's affection and declarations of epic undying love had been most pleasant, and sometimes very funny.

Though it turned out that Luna didn't really look much like the real Harry Potter, Luna mused idly, as she drifted off.

* * *

(**A/N:** On my profile there's a link to this story's TvTropes page. Go add stuff to it! It's fun! ^.^ Also, I've decided I want all of Luna's imaginary creatures to be Pokemon, and I'd like your suggestions as to which Pokemon her wrackspurts, nargles, snorkacks and other things would most-fittingly be.)


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